5 Christmas Projects for Your Family

As Christmas approaches, our kids are constantly bombarded with TV commercials, newspaper ads, flyers and store displays shouting the message of what they “must” see and “need” to get for Christmas. It’s easy to understand how the true meaning of Christmas can get lost in all the commercialism and pageantry.

So how do we get it back? How do we make sure that Jesus is the focus in our own home? Remind your kids of how God loved us so much that He gave the gift of His One and Only Son to live with us here on earth, to share His love and ultimately pay the sacrifice on our behalf. (And might I add – remind them all year long – not just at Christmas!) Help them understand that while Christmas is about a gift, it’s about sharing that gift with others.

Here are five ideas to help bring back the focus on showing His great love to the world.

1. Enlist your kids in the “Secret Service” during the Holidays. Whether for neighbors, friends or a list of senior adults from your church, find ways that your kids can be a blessing to those around them.  Assign a task, but make sure they do it secretly so that the recipient doesn’t know! Leave a card with a message:  “Merry Christmas! Jesus loves you and so do we!”

2. In similar fashion, assign each family member another family member’s name and encourage them to quietly perform a good deed for that person. Each time a task is completed, the person gets to place a piece of straw on the manger to help create a soft bed for Jesus.

3. Create a Christmas chain with a link for each day until December 25. On each link, print a service project for the family to complete that day. Suggestions might include raking leaves for a neighbor, helping bake cookies to give away, or paying forward a hot chocolate at a local coffee shop.

4. Load up the family and surprise a single mom or senior adult by decorating their home for Christmas.

5. Choose a family in need and celebrate the 12 Days of Christmas by secretly leaving a gift or gifts at their doorstep each day. Include a note about the meaning behind each of the original gifts in the song.

At the end of each of these busy days, circle up the kids and have a family devotion time. Read scriptures that focus on the Christmas story and discuss how the actions of the day shared the love of Christ with others. For ideas read 12 Days of Christmas: Celebrate Christ with Your Family or Walk Through Advent with Kids Using an Advent Calendar.

Please share with us the ways that your family will be showing the love of Christ this Christmas!

Klista Storts serves as the Childhood Ministry Specialist. She is married to Gary and the mother of Brett and Blake… oh yea, and Mimi to her grand-daughter, Mia! Klista is passionate about laying foundations for conversion in the lives of preschoolers. Klista loves to ask the hard questions, so look out for her!