McBride Family Christmas
I love Christmas time! I love the lights, the music, the cold weather, all the lessons of Advent we get to discuss as a family, and the anticipation of giving to others. In our family, we have incorporated many traditions to the month of December. I will share some of our favorites we have consistently done over the years.
Every year, the children help unpack all the Christmas decor that has been neatly tucked away from the year before. I love hearing them say, “Oh I remember this!” as they eagerly open another box. I typically will have a pot of beef stew or chili on the stove while music is playing all day long. Everyone has a part in decorating the Christmas tree and we have a pretty good routine down now that they are a little older. I have a short video here of our family getting ready for the Christmas season.
While the visual transformation of our house is taking place, my focus is on the heart of my wife and children. I have found that the best way for my children to experience the joy of God’s Gift to the World is to serve and to sacrifice. One of our favorite Christmas traditions is a gift exchange. We will draw names as early as July to give the children plenty of time to discover each other’s needs and wants. Over the years we have had several different variants of this process. Sometimes our children will make each other’s gifts, and sometimes I will have them pick out a gift from a store. I will guide them through this process, but ultimately the goal is to have them take ownership over the gift they give. Some of my favorite memories are of my children exchanging gifts they have worked on for six months, or when they simply give one of their most prized possessions away.
Another family tradition we have are the meals we look forward to. The kids always enjoy mama’s homemade cinnamon rolls, fruit crepes, or pancakes on Christmas morning. And they love eating them in their pajamas. This is the only day we allow them to wear their pajamas all day long. I’m not sure which one our kids enjoy more!
For me a successful Christmas begins with what I would call warfare prayers. Prior to the month of December we actively pray for a meaningful and edifying Christmas holiday. Not only does this demonstrate to my children our dependence upon God’s provision, but it helps them to prepare their heart so that the purpose and True meaning of Christmas (Gospel) is emphasized.
Natalie and I are very purposeful and diligent when choosing gifts to give our children. Gifts do not have to be expensive nor do they have to be numerous. We have found that meaningful gifts are of much more value. We try and give gifts that will allow our children to be creative, productive, or help teach them a greater skill (e.g. hunting, sewing, cooking, crafting, etc.).
The purpose of the gift exchange is to illustrate the glorious gift God gave the World. Throughout the month of December, we read one of four advent books that are all centered around the same story (the birth of Christ). Each year, the kids look forward to the book we are reading at the time. I have found that this helps prepare their heart throughout the course of the month of December. For the littles in our house, I make sure to hide a small silver star every night before I go to bed. When they wake up in the morning, they can not wait to search through the house to be the first to find the star. And on Christmas morning they will always find the star hanging over the small nativity set we have sitting on the shelf.
This has been just a few of our favorite Christmas traditions, and I want to share another aspect that we have found to be very meaningful. All too often Christian families can make an idol out of family life. What I mean by that is that Jesus did not call us to preach the Gospel unto our family (although I believe it is implied), but he did call us to preach the Gospel unto the world. In talking with my children about their most meaningful Christmas traditions, I am humbled to hear them say that they remembered the times when we served the local fire and police department with pulled-pork sandwiches, brought meals to shut-ins from our church, and passed out gospel tracks with money paper clipped to them at the local shopping mall and outside the downtown homeless shelter. When Jesus said that it is truly better to give than to receive (Acts 20:35), I think Paul was encouraging us to put our faith in action and to test this principle. I can assure you you won’t regret it, and the Word of God will be fulfilled in you and your family’s life.
I encourage you to start some Christmas traditions in your own family. It has been my experience that people and children are much more impacted by meaningful experiences than by the hollow, and flashy version the world tries to sell. In our house we say quality over quantity. We pray that God will give you creativity and a vision to capitalize on every moment with your family during the Christmas season.
Update: Then and Now
Our family has nearly doubled since the last time I posted about Christmas traditions. Some things we do the same, others we have changed or tweaked…etc. Our only boy has now expanded into having brothers and a few more sisters. We are most grateful for the opportunity to expand our family. Never would we have imagined this would be the path God has set before us.
Most of the things we do are very similar, but have tweaked some of the fun things we are able to do now that we have many more hands on deck.
The biggest difference is we bake a lot more pies than ever before and make quadruple batches of everything! Natalie is great at making a list and delegating helpers. The men are in charge of smoking the meat and somehow we pull it all together.
They love decorating for each season, but especially Christmas. It is a lot of fun teaming up who does which tree, the nativity, the lights, and all the decor that represents Jesus’ birth. Having so many run around under foot is pretty comical and I wouldn’t change our lives for anything. Each Christmas brings constant smiles when we serve our local community leaders, joyful spirits as we give to one another, new hope because of Christ, and more love between each other.
We continue to draw names and exchange gifts with each other. That is something that will hopefully never change in our family; for it reminds us that Christ said in Acts 20:35, “…It is more blessed to give than to receive.”
Another tradition we do as a family that I hope will never change is, typically on Christmas Day, we make quite a bit of extra food to pack up and take to our local police and fire department men and women. It has always been the highlight of the day and something our houseful looks forward to each year. As I look around the room everyone is just glowing with smiles. I love watching our kids express their gratitude, love, and appreciation for the service they provide or community. There is something so joyous about giving that fills up the soul.
I encourage you to serve together as a family wherever and whenever you can. It may be as simple as being involved in building the set for the Christmas play, to being the play, to serving the elderly in nursing homes. We enjoy playing music with each other. We aren’t the most talented musicians, but we do love blessing others with whatever we can. I encourage you to find what you can do as a family for someone else. You’ll find more enjoyment from that than anything this world has to offer.
This was a Christmas play that we performed for our church. It was called I Heard The Bells written by Majesty Music’s most talented. Jason made the backdrop, painted the windows by hand, our daughter sewed curtains for a 3D effect, and all of the children had a role in the play. It was very fun to pull it all together and work as a team to get it all done.
Whatever your traditions may be, bring Christ to the center of everything, cultivate those relationships, have fun, create memories, and be present in the moment.
For the life we have is too short to miss out on what really matters.
Merry Christmas,
Jason