Have you wanted to have a more Christ-centered Christmas, but weren’t sure how to do it? Of course Santa, elves, parties, stockings, and cookies are all a really fun part of Christmas and should still be enjoyed, but have you felt that something was missing? That there was so much hustle and bustle of the holidays that you forgot or ran out of time to focus on the real meaning of Christmas?
I have definitely felt this.
With my young family, I really want to start having more Christ-centered traditions during Christmastime. I don’t want everything to be focused on the gifts. I want my children to think about giving, love, kindness, and of course the birth of Christ.
But how? If you weren’t raised with those types of traditions, how do you know what to do?
Well let me tell you.
You need Celebrating A Christ-Centered Christmas by Emily Belle Freeman! She has 7 awesome traditions that are centered on Christ that she shares with you. Each tradition is focused on one of the members in the nativity. She shares stories, songs to sing, scriptures from the Bible to read, and activities to do with your family. I love that this book is really for family of all ages. You can adjust the activities so they fit the ages of your children. It’s also a great book for anyone who believes in Christ. It’s not a book that’s only for Mormons which some of the books I review from Deseret Book are.
My favorite tradition that she shares is about Joseph. I feel like Joseph often gets skipped in the story. He’s mentioned, but not really focused on. I love how Emily focuses on his service and how he must have felt on the night that Christ was born. She says, “Joseph represents the desires of our hearts. He reminds us of the secret acts of Christmas kindness given with sacrifice and love to the broken, the weary, the lost, or the lonely.” One of her activity suggestions is to anonymously help another family in need. This is something Alan and I have done a few times in the past and something I really want to get my whole family involved in.
Celebrating A Christ-Centered Christmas is a quick read that is full of great ideas! I love the feelings I felt while reading this book. It has really gotten me motivated to make sure that our family traditions are more focused on Christ with Santa still there, but just not the main focus.
You can find Celebrating A Christ-Centered Christmas at Deseret Book!