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25 days of simple christmas, ornaments, Simply...Family, traditions

25 Days of Simple Christmas-A Very Meaningful Tradition

Welcome to the 25 Days of Simple Christmas!  Each day I will be posting an idea about keeping the holidays simple- so that we can focus on Christ and the real meaning of Christmas!

While Christmas is such a special day, so much of the joy gets lost in the busyness.  

Each day I will be writing about a simple way to celebrate the season.  To focus on family, joy, and memories, without the elaborate extras that can bring added stress. Simple can be more meaningful if it gives us more time to focus on the huge GIFT we are awaiting-Jesus Christ, our Savior.

Today I share with you, a very meaningful tradition…


A really special tradition in our family is one that was started when I was a little girl.  Each year my parents would take my sister and I to a local Christmas store and pick out an ornament.  My mother would label each ornament with the year we bought it and our initials. 

Over the years we each accumulated a beautiful assortment of ornaments and when we each were married, the ornaments went with us to our new homes.

I still have every ornament from every year, and it is truly a gift to pull them out each year and reminisce about them.  My very first ornament is a worn out Donald Duck wearing ice skates.  There is a Pebbles (from the Flintstones) holding a candy cane.  There is a ballerina from when I was middle school age and was enrolled in dancing school.  There is the disco ball shaped like a pear…just to bring some laughs as to what was I thinking when I picked that one out!?  There are quite a few angels, because I used to collect them.

It is a treasure to have all of those ornaments, and to show them to my children each year when we pull out the Christmas boxes.

When our first child was born, we began the same tradition.  

Grace’s first ornament was a stork carrying a baby girl with a sign below that says,
“Snowflake from heaven.”


Every year we take the children to pick out an ornament, and label it with their initials and the year.  So far we have a collection of Star Wars characters, a sparkly violin, some birds, etc.  Each representing something special to the child that year, or just because that is what they liked at the time!


A simple, yet extremely meaningful tradition, 
that I am so thankful to my parents for starting.  
The memories are priceless…


 Please Join These Bloggers in
their 25 Days of Christmas Series:
25 Days of Christmas: Home for the Holidays @ Graceful Abandon 
25 Days of Easy Christmas Crafts for Toddlers & Preschoolers @ Sidetracked Sarah 
25 Days of Christmas Traditions @ Sharing the Journey 


Visit Holy Spirit-Led Homeschooling today to link up as well!

© copyright 2012 – All rights reserved

SimplyLivingforHim

25 days of simple christmas, Simply...Living For Him, traditions

25 Days of Simple Christmas-Christmas Lights!

Welcome to the 25 Days of Simple Christmas!  Each day I will be posting an idea about keeping the holidays simple- so that we can focus on Christ and the real meaning of Christmas!

While Christmas is such a special day, so much of the joy gets lost in the busyness.  
Each day I will be writing about a simple way to celebrate the season.  To focus on family, joy, and memories, without the elaborate extras that can bring added stress. Simple can be more meaningful if it gives us more time to focus on the huge GIFT we are awaiting-Jesus Christ, our Savior.

Some day I would hope my children look back at Christmas time in our family as a sweet time of anticipation for Jesus’ birthday.  I keep this in mind when making traditions that are special.
One of our favorite traditions at Christmas is driving around to look at Christmas lights.  This was something my own family did when I was a child, and I always remember it.
So now, each year we load up onto the car and prepare for a nighttime drive.  We stop and get hot cocoa for everyone and some donuts for the ride!
We play Christmas carols on the radio, and drive all through the area to see all of the houses decorated.  We have some favorites that put on a big display each year that we always return to.  We also drive to new areas to see different neighborhoods.
It is important to point out that the lights are a symbol of the anticipation for when the greatest light of all entered the world~ Jesus. 
Just as we anticipate the drive out to see the lights each year, 
we should anticipate the coming of our Savior!


 Please Join These Bloggers in
their 25 Days of Christmas Series:

25 Days of Christmas: Home for the Holidays @ Graceful Abandon 

25 Days of Easy Christmas Crafts for Toddlers & Preschoolers @ Sidetracked Sarah 

25 Days of Christmas Traditions @ Sharing the Journey 

© copyright 2012 – All rights reserved

SimplyLivingforHim