Tag Archives: Holidays

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Our Tradition: Family Advent Nights

This is part of the series The Gifts Of The Holidays: Celebrating Thanksgiving And Christmas. Read more from the series!

This year, we’ve started a new tradition: Family Advent Nights.

So far, we’ve done this three times, and my kids love it! I have to admit, I do too…

The Gifts of Christmas

Let me tell you up front that this is not my idea originally. Although we’ve made a few changes that fit our family better, I discovered this idea on the Familyman Ministry blog. This site is an incredible resource for men who want to be the best dads and husbands that they can be. I suggest you check it out.

Here’s the concept. Once a week, for the four weeks between Thanksgiving and Christmas, we gather as a family after dinner. We start off with a simple craft. Our first week, the kids crafted a simple woven placemat. The next week, we made wreath ornaments out of buttons and pipe cleaners. This week, we colored gift bags. The crafts are simple, yet fun. I ordered a kit with all four crafts in it from Familyman Ministries. It was extremely inexpensive. See the kit here.

After the craft session, we head out into the living room for some deeper family togetherness. We start off by lighting a candle (or more) on our Advent wreath. While this is burning, we read a passage from the Bible coinciding with the week of Advent we are in. Again, the Familyman website has specific details. My older kids take turns reading parts of the passage, and then we pray.

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The Gift Of Hope

This is part of the series The Gifts Of The Holidays: Celebrating Thanksgiving And Christmas. Read more from the series!

Another gift that God gives to us is the gift of hope.

The Gifts Of Christmas

Hope has always been kind of a vague concept for me. I decided to look it up. Here are a few of the definitions found on dictionary.com:

  • The feeling that what is wanted can be had or that events will turn out for the best.
  • A person or thing in which expectations are centered.
  • Something that is hoped for.
  • To look forward to with desire and reasonable confidence.
  • To believe, desire, or trust.

The first and third definitions don’t really convey much meaning. But the other three really speak to our faith, don’t they?

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The Gift Of Joy

This is part of the series The Gifts Of The Holidays: Celebrating Thanksgiving And Christmas. Read more from the series!

Let’s take a look at another gift that God desires to give us: the gift of joy.

The Gifts Of Christmas

Joy is not the same as happiness. Happiness is an emotion; and it comes and goes. Joy is an action. Joy is something that remains steady, no matter what life throws at us.

The angels proclaimed the birth of Jesus to be “good news of great joy” when they announced his birth to the shepherds:

But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord.” (Luke 2:10-11)

The rest of the New Testament gives us a much broader definition of what joy is. Here are a few characteristics:

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The Gift Of Peace

This is part of the series The Gifts Of The Holidays: Celebrating Thanksgiving And Christmas. Read more from the series!

There are several gifts that God gives us that are closely tied to Christ’s birth. Over the next couple of weeks, we will look at several of them.

The first of that comes to mind is the gift of peace.

The Gifts Of Christmas

Luke 2:14 says:

Glory to God in the highest, and on earth, peace to men on whom His favor rests.

The angels cried peace on the night of Christ’s birth. But what does that mean?

Dictionary.com defines peace as…

A state of mutual harmony between people or groups, especially in personal relations.

That’s good, but it doesn’t quite explain just what it is that God is giving us through Christ.

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Our Tradition: Expressing Thanks

This is part of the series The Gifts Of The Holidays: Celebrating Thanksgiving And Christmas. Read more from the series!

One of the character traits we are trying to instill in our children is gratefulness.

And so we have developed several traditions that help to foster this.

The Gifts Of Thanksgiving

This is a habit we strive for all year long, but it seems especially powerful around Thanksgiving time.

It’s the habit of expressing our thanks.

For us, it’s simple. When we are seated at the table for our Thanksgiving meal, we go around the room, allowing each person the chance to share what they are thankful for, especially over the past year.

We also do this on a more immediate basis in our family devotions regularly. We each share something we are thankful for from the day or the last week.

We have five young kids. It gets pretty entertaining as they come up with things that they are thankful for, because once they share the basics, such as family, food, our home, and friends, we encourage them to get more creative.

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The Gift Of Family

This is part of the series The Gifts Of The Holidays: Celebrating Thanksgiving And Christmas. Read more from the series!

I am very family centered.

I get teary when I watch a family movie with my wife and kids. I choke when I see a strong family loving one another.

And I love spending time with family.

The Gifts Of Thanksgiving

Family is important. More so now than it has been in my life in the past. I’ve been brutally reminded of the mortality of this life with the loss of my brother and my father.

Now, it’s only my mother, a brother and myself. Seems sad…

Granted, I have several families through the years that have “adopted” us. We have grown very close, and will always be so.

But it’s not the same.

One of the things that scares me about 21st century American culture is the complete lack of priority of the family. The breakdown of the family is a dangerous path that will lead us to where we do not want to go.

America, and the world, needs to retrace our steps and re-realize the importance of family.

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The Gift Of Gratefulness

This is part of the series The Gifts Of The Holidays: Celebrating Thanksgiving And Christmas. Read more from the series!

Sometimes the state of America saddens me. It seems as if we’ve lost our way.

We love to celebrate, but one of the most important holidays seems to be largely overlooked. Stores move from Halloween to Christmas. Families use the day to gorge themselves and watch football.

And the whole idea behind Thanksgiving is ignored.

The Gifts Of Thanksgiving

We’ve forgotten how to be grateful. Instead, we view life as if we deserved everything we have; all the gifts, blessings, and good things.

We feel entitled.

We shouldn’t.

We should live with an attitude of thankfulness.