A Christian Christmas

[FuzzyPuffling]

Hello fellow Christians,
Christmas these days is so full of presents, food and family ( nowt wrong with that) but what do you do to offset the materialism and bring Christmas back to the birth of Jesus?

We don't start too soon, so Advent gets its proper place as a season of preparation and prayer.
Gifts have a budget, not to be mean, but to be thoughtful.
We have a plain wooden nativity set of many years standing that has pride of place in our decorations.
We always listen to the service of 9 lessons and carols from King's.
And of course, church on Christmas Day!
And a season full of love and wonder!

Some Christian friends I know do a Jesse Tree which they love www.faithward.org/jesse-tree/

Oh I like that idea! Thank you.

I always remember, about 40 years ago, explaining to my daughter why we celebrate Christmas. She wanted to sing "Happy Birthday" to Jesus, we did that for several years, it did bring the reason for Christmas into focus.

Lovely idea for a thread. Our faith based Christmas celebrations include:

Jesse tree ornaments in DD's advent calendar- we made them together a few years ago. (She gets chocolate too)

Serving at church or attending our nativity, Carol and Christmas day services. Christmas Day service is my favourite. Its so happy and relaxed. Tends to be short with a kid friendly message about Christmas. A really joyful celebration.

Keeping the week after Christmas day as restful as possible. I know lots of people do this anyway. But I find it good to mindfully rest and enjoy the quiet time with just our family- being thankful for all we have.

For Advent:
An Advent Calendar with Scripture quotes and a religious scene (it's a wooden, reusable one). I do put a little chocolate in too (otherwise the kids would just feel that they're missing out compared to their friends).

Lots of cribs around the house (I love a crib). It's the equivalent of Elf on the Shelf in that the figures gradually make their way to the crib. The Jesus figure goes in after Midnight Mass on Christmas Eve/Day. The magi arrive at Epiphany.

I'm organising a reverse Advent calendar in church - collect an item for a local foodbank every day.

We used to do a Jesse tree and I still have the handmade decorations, but kids have outgrown it now.

Don't decorate for Christmas until near the end of Advent. The decorations stay up until Epiphany.

Lots of carol services (parish, parish children, parish youth, cathedral, school).

Confession, fasting, day of retreat & recollection.

I make the Advent wreath in church (two - three times because it doesn't last). I use the leftover holly to make a wreath for home as well.

Lots of stuff in the liturgy - more sober music, no flowers, candles lit on the wreath ...

So plenty of ways to keep Christmas out of Advent. I really love Advent!

We keep a candle lit in the window overnight on Christmas Eve. It's an Irish tradition to indicate that the Holy Family would be welcomed in the house. I don't let the kids have a real candle (they can have an electric one). I have a real one in my bedroom and keep the curtain open to lessen the fire risk.

For Christmas itself I guess it's much like a secular Christmas but with church and prayers on top and no Santa. We do say Happy Birthday to Jesus (it's cheesy but I love it). Dc get one present a day from Boxing Day to Epiphany (as well as multiple presents on Christmas Day): it helps to reinforce the message that Christmas starts on Christmas Day, it doesn't end then, and it also helps them to actually appreciate the presents and not get overwhelmed with too much at once.

We have an advent calendar of kindness. In each 'window' my daughter has a little challenge to be kind (like smile at 10 new people today, tell someone you like what they were wearing etc). At the end of the day we chat about it, how that would have made the person feel and we say a prayer together.
We go to church every Sunday anyway, but Advent is very special. She will be in the crib service activities and knows all the carols.
And yes we do do Father Christmas while she is little, but we don't have huge long lists, excessive spending and indulgence.
My heart melted last year. One of my best friends is our vicar, and my daughter has known her since she was a baby. Last year at the end of term DD brought a little chocolate snowman home from school that she had won in a class competition, and I said go on you can eat it if you want. She shook her head and put it in her pocket, and I forgot about it. On the next Sunday, she ran up to my vicar friend, pulled out the (now slightly melted) snowman, and said 'Reverend XXX (won't say her name), you can have this. I know how busy you are and you look tired, have it with your cup of tea that mummy makes you'. I was definitely 'allergic' to the church flowers that day 😭

These are all such lovely posts. Proper Advent and Christmas activities/stories, and so awesome.
Thank you, and keep them coming!

Fink I had a visit from the Fire Service because I'm quite deaf and they were giving me special fire alert equipment so I got the whole nine yards - complete house assessment and advice on fire safety. They'd rocked up in a fire truck and all.

But they'd been to a house fire the night before caused by a candle left burning all night - the occupant sadly died from smoke inhalation, which is what they were trying to convey (smoke kills etc).

After that I got rid of those square block multi plug yokes (switched for long multiplug things) and I now only have candles on the kitchen table under supervision. I hope this post doesn't come across as preachy but their sincerity and clarity about fire risks really made me think.

I've never had an Advent wreath at home so I'm off to buy four candles (fork handles?) and I'll do something each week with the family when lighting it for Advent.

I do the Epiphany chalking of the front door and bless the house, but I admit to talking down all decorations before the 6th. I might reconsider that now.

Our nativity, I'll admit, is a Play Mobil one - I bought the Magi set too so it's the full set. But I love it and it reminds me of a child's innocence at Christmas.

Taking down decorations I mean! Though I'm Irish living in Northern Scotland and my DC always remark on the talkativity levels at home (locals tend to be more reserved than me)

Lots of singing, but I'm in the church choir. We start with the Advent Carol service which has some lovely music, then each of the four Sundays in Advent has music appropriate to the readings of the day (Mary, John the Baptist). Then there's 9 lessons and Carols and Midnight Eucharist on Christmas Eve and a service of the word on Christmas Day.
We've got an Advent Wreath at home, and 2 Nativity sets. They stay up until Epiphany.
Our church does have a Christmas tree festival which goes against having the church bare of decoration but it does raise much needed money for local causes and the community love it

I've just been asked by our parish priest whether I'll run the same 'exploring scriptures' thing I did during Lent this Advent. Answer yes. I have no idea whether we'll get takers, but even a tiny group is lovely. Last time, we used the reading set for each Sunday, read them together one evening during the week, anyone who knew a bit made a few observations on how they fitting into the Bible, then we all discussed what particularly struck us. It's amazing how even a very short reading, particularly a Gospel reading, can draw so many different insights. And a little prayer, often from the collect.

So I'm looking forward to that.

I also love my crib, which has gradually evolved into a nativity tableau, with all the animals mentioned in Isaiah 11 6-9 in the foreground, current pets in with the holy family, deceased pets at the back with the angels. It starts being filled up at the start of Advent, the baby arrives at night before Christmas day, the kings arrive (after travelling round the living room) on January 6, and it all stays up until February 2nd. I have a slightly dark and blurry image from a few years ago - if you squint you can see the lion and the lamb as well as Mary and the baby.

I love the colour and sparkle and Christmas food, I love the meeting up with friends and family, I love the chance to get out into nature, I love the stretch in the evenings, but the religious aspects are the best bit.

www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Isaiah%2011:6-9&version=NIV

I love your crib @DeanElderberry !

We have some standard cribs with the requisite 2 shepherds, 3 magi, 1 donkey etc. But we have some others where I've added provençal-style figures like a duck seller and a nun. And in others the crib merges with the other Christmas decorations and year-round knick knacks, so we've got a sheep and a robin who are each bigger than the stable.

We've got a sturdier, wooden, one that the children can play with and the rest are ceramic so they stay up out of reach. Although we've still got some figures that have been damaged over the years but keep coming back: an angel with no wings left, a three-legged cow ...

This thread has made me smile this morning. Also scribbling down notes furiously. Thank you all.

We had a cat who used to regularly steal Baby Jesus from the crib scene. Every morning the kids loved the "Hunt for Jesus" game! Amazingly, he never got lost!

I try to read at least one of the Gospels throughout Advent, got an advent wreath that I light each Sunday.
Will go to at least 1 Carol service, usually a charity based one and one other.

Haven't put the nativity up for a few years because of the kitten, but he's older now so that'll be put out again this year.

When I start setting up the space for my nativity - star studded dark sky, angel overhead, lights around it - Rosy always goes in and curls up, convinced it's a space for displaying and venerating her.

A black cat against a dark background doesn't even show up very well! There is a model little black cat that goes in beside the baby - and a rearrangement of furniture to make it harder for her to get in.

edited to remove the word worship, lest anyone think I heretically worship images!

Oh please swap your candle for an LED one while you sleep @Fink. I love the tradition but I’m worried about you now. Relatives had a horrible unattended Christmas candle related incident last year (during the day) and nearly burnt the house down. It all happened very quickly but thankfully everyone was okay, just very shocked. Quite a bit of smoke damage to the house though.

When my son was quite into the concept of themed birthday cakes (Autumn birthday) we made Jesus a chocolate birthday cake in the shape of a fish with chocolate button scales, instead of a fruit cake for Christmas that year! We drew the line at thousands of candles....

I love the idea of the Three Wise Men travelling around the living room before joining the crib on Jan 6th @DeanElderberry! They’ve always joined the crib on 6th in our house too, but I’ve always just kept them stored away beforehand. Until now!

@Fifteenofus I agree on that - I have bought a couple of those thick, wax-covered, battery-powered candles with 'wicks' that are balanced on a thin wire and sway and flicker realistically in the heat from the bulb and the air currents. I live with two cats and no humans and don't dare leave real candles exposed and unattended (might risk them in lanterns).

Candle in the window overnight on Christmas Eve, New Year's Eve, Little Christmas (Epiphany) Eve, and no fear it will burn me in my bed.

I love the idea of putting Scripture quotes in the advent calendar! Ours has quite small drawers so it will just have to be chapter and verse (but that will help them learn more about their Bibles).

I might reconsider the real candle, but to be honest I'm barely asleep that night anyway. It's at least 3am by the time I'm home after tidying up from Midnight Mass, and then I need a bit of time to wind down. And I don't get to sleep in much past 6. Lest you think this candle is burning for a lovely 8 hours' sleep (I do try to have a pre-Mass nap, if everything else is prepped, but that's candleless)!

It's quite hard to think of a child-appropriate line from the Gospel Christmas stories for each day of Advent, so it's a good idea to plan it out in advance (I speak from experience!) so that you know where to intersperse some non-Gospel verses.

Also, it annoys me that all commercially-available Advent calendars have exactly 25 boxes/ windows, even the ones from religious shops, so we have to find creative alternatives for the extra days in the years when Advent is longer. Surely it would be easy enough to make the calendars for the longest possible Advent and expect people to skip the days they don't need on a shorter year.

I forgot that we also celebrate St Nicholas Day on 6th December (although we're not from a country that traditionally has, we just borrow Catholic traditions from anywhere). Kids put out their shoes on the night of the 5th and get a (shoe-sized) present.

We have candles and such for St Lucy. In church it's a big celebration for the St Lucian expats, sometimes we have dignitaries visiting from the High Commission.

And a big procession and flowers and such for the Immaculate Conception.

But they take place as Advent-adjacent days rather than a central part of actual Advent.

Thanks.

I'm thinking I'll go through from the beginning of the Bible through to Jesus' birth, and follow through the prophecies and their fulfilment.