Jennifer Lambert

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You are here: Home / Faith / How We Celebrate Christmas

How We Celebrate Christmas

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December 21, 2020 By Jennifer Lambert 5 Comments

Christmas is probably the biggest holiday of the year in Western culture.

The Christmas season surpasses most of the religious significance to be a commercial, capitalist month-long (or more) event.

Every year, I’m on a quest to make this holiday simpler and more spiritual and less commercial. I don’t want the focus and memories just to be expensive presents.

When my kids were little, I stressed every year how to celebrate holidays to make them memorable.

We never celebrated with extended family. As a military family, we choose to stay home and have a quiet celebration with ourselves or travel over the holiday break to make it special. We went to Maui when we were stationed in Hawaii and Rome when we were stationed in Germany.

We lay off much academic homeschool work for fun holiday themes for a month or a few weeks. My kids enjoy a school break.

  • Christmas Unit Study
  • Gingerbread Unit Study
  • Christmas Preschool
  • Christmas Tot School

Now that my kids are teens, I feel I laid a good foundation for holiday traditions and we continue to choose what’s most important for our family each year.

How We Celebrate Christmas

The Christmas season begins with the first Sunday of Advent. We light candles in our wreath each week and do readings each day.

We continue to limit the importance of gift giving and focus on debt-free holidays. Check out my 5 Ways to Cultivate Relationships Over Stuff.

December is a time of slowing down for us. We look over the year and remember. We curl up with tea and books and candles – hygge.

We celebrate Saint Nicholas and other saints days. We don’t do Santa.

We love watching holiday movies and listening to holiday music.

We read lots of holiday books each year, adding to our library.

We celebrate the Winter Solstice with some fun traditions. We love learning new ways to celebrate and keep magic alive.

All grown-ups were once children… but only few of them remember it.

Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, The Little Prince

My favorite hymns are Lo, How a Rose E’er Blooming and In the Bleak Midwinter. I also love the Alabama Christmas album and Dolly Parton and The Carpenters.

We all look forward to special meals and foods to celebrate – prime rib or tenderloin, ham and twice-baked potatoes, cookies and sweet baked goods to share or have with tea. My middle daughter is usually in charge of setting the table with the pretty holiday tablecloth and great-grandma’s china and silverware. The kids love to try out new napkin folding patterns.

Some years we listen or watch The Queen’s address and the Pope’s address or Doctor Who. We almost always watch National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation on Christmas Eve.

Christmas doesn’t quite end on the 25th of December. We celebrate Epiphany and Candlemas. It helps to get through the dark and dreary winter days.

Christmastide is about hope and love.

You might also like:

What’s your favorite part of Christmas?

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Linking up: Create with Joy, Welcome Heart, April Harris, Anita Ojeda, Little Cottage, Ducks in a Row, Ducks, LouLou Girls, Suburbia, InstaEncouragements, Our Three Peas, Anchored Abode, Soaring with Him, Ginger Snap Crafts, Girlish Whims, Debbie Kitterman, Slices of Life, Answer is Choco, Simply Sweet Home, Grammy’s Grid, CWJ, OMHG, Marilyn’s Treats,

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Filed Under: Faith Tagged With: Christmas, December, winter

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Comments

  1. Donna says

    December 24, 2020 at 2:06 pm

    Jennifer, your Christmas traditions sound absolutely lovely! especially the slower style of hygge and celebrating past December 25th. I love celebrating the Winter Solstice!

    Reply
  2. Joanne says

    December 24, 2020 at 3:23 pm

    We used to take a break from all traditional schoolwork for the month of December too and focus on Christmas movies, crafts, baking, etc. I often planned themed days and we’d read lots of fabulous picture books together. Thanks for sharing with us at Encouraging Hearts and Home. Pinned.

    Reply
  3. April Harris says

    December 26, 2020 at 11:50 am

    Thank you for sharing your traditions with the Hearth and Soul Link party, Jennifer. I hope you and your family are enjoying a safe, healthy and happy holiday season. Thank you for being a part of the Hearth and Soul Community.

    Reply
  4. Marilyn Lesniak says

    December 26, 2020 at 7:48 pm

    ********************************************************
    Thank you for sharing at #OverTheMoon. Pinned and shared. Have a lovely week. I hope to see you at next week’s party too! Please stay safe and healthy. Come party with us at Over The Moon! Catapult your content Over The Moon! @marilyn_lesniak @EclecticRedBarn
    ********************************************************

    Reply

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  1. Encouraging Hearts & Home Blog Hop 12.31.20 - Apron Strings & other things says:
    December 31, 2020 at 5:00 am

    […] How We Celebrate Christmas because the sweet and quiet spirit in this post spoke volumes to me. […]

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