Mom Life | Texting the Truth

A simple, unhurried, fun, and worshipful Christmas is what I want this year. Our TtT team has been encouraging each other to think about what details are necessary or helpful for our family this season – and which are actually adding unnecessary stress or distracting from the meaning of Christ’s birth.

The holiday season can be filled with constant activity. Places to visit. Parties to attend. Events to experience. Crafts and baking to be done at home. The list can go on and on. But will all of these activities actually help me and my family celebrate the birth of Jesus?

This year I have made a mental list of my favorite Christmas activities and traditions. The ones that are most important and meaningful to me. Here are my top three activities:

1. Decorating the Christmas tree, complete with its old mismatched ornaments and the Fisher Price nativity that the kids play with underneath.

2. Doing something to intentionally present the Bible story of Jesus’ birth. The past couple years, our family used the Jesse tree reading plan to tell the story of creation through Jesus’ birth. Here is a free printable version similar to what we have done. This year, our family is changing it up a little and using Names of Jesus Advent Cards. Every day, we read a card that has a verse to describe one of the names of Jesus. Then we hang that card up on our wall (all together the cards will form the shape of a Christmas tree when we are done). The picture above is my youngest son hanging up last night’s card.

3. Baking Holiday Waffle Cookies. This is something I have done the past few years. It’s an easy and quick recipe, but the cookies look fun and special – a simple way to make a celebration for Jesus’ birthday!

My oldest kids are now getting to the age that they are asking to do certain holiday activities. It’s becoming an interesting window into what traditions are meaningful and fun to them, since their requests are not always what I’d expect. So, I have added two of their requests to round out our family’s list of Top 5 Christmas Activities this year:

4. Advent calendars. No surprise here! Opening a tiny window every day to pull out a small Playmobil figure or few Legos makes for a very exciting month for my kids, counting down the days until Jesus’ birthday. (Life hack: my husband always buys Advent calendars when they are on clearance after Christmas and we save them to use the following year!?)

5. Making Gingerbread Houses. This would not have made my list of top Christmas activities, but it is apparently meaningful to my kids!

There are plenty of other holiday activities out there. What didn’t make our list this year was visiting the zoo to see the lights. Or our town’s community tree lighting. Or creating hand-made ornaments. Or a million other activities that are wonderful and fun, but may or may not happen for our family this year. I’m alright with that because enjoying the season in an unhurried, thoughtful way requires our family to set some priorities and even say no to some great activities in order to make time for rest and simplicity.

So, how about you? What activities make your family’s top 5 Christmas Activities List? What are you doing to be intentional about a #simpleChristmas this year?

?Written by Katie Duh

Katie

Ah, sweet moments here this morning. I had to take a pic to document this. Isn’t it the BEST when siblings get along and play together?!?

Laura

Totally! That’s so sweet. I love it when my boys are doing something altogether. The sweet giggles and conspiring murmurs warm my heart.? Until the sweet turns into sour and howling screams… sigh… ?

Katie

Ugh! I know what you mean.

Laura

It can happen so quickly… one minute joy and a millisecond later it’s like World War III (I might exaggerate slightly).

Katie

You mean like one minute they are sweetly building a farm with all their animals and the next moment ….

Laura

The animals become flying projectiles?!

Katie

YES!‍?

Laura

Lately the boys have been playing football ? in the backyard. It always starts off so well. But then someone gets too rough or a bigger brother exerts his physical prowess or someone turns into a bad sport and says something hateful.?

Katie

Same exact thing happens here. Next thing I know there is a full-on wrestling (or screaming) match. Why does that always seem to happen?!

Laura

Your guess is as good as mine. But it is a lot of work to be the conflict negotiator! Not a role I imagined when I thought about being a mom.

Katie

And yet a role I find myself in so often!?

Laura

And it’s one that is pretty important in the whole scheme of training our children in the way they should go. And it gives us a lot of opportunities to talk about choosing to love one another and not hate each other.

Katie

That’s very true. And I guess my kids aren’t so different from myself, huh? My first inclination is to fight for what I want, when I want it. It takes some training and practice to choose to love and consider someone else’s perspective.

Laura

You have to want to see it another way first. And that is so hard to do myself let alone to teach. I want my kids to really be on the same team in the long run. There’s so much out in the world that they will need to rely on each other for.

Katie

Right! So, how do I go about trying to teach them to look out for each other?

Laura

Well, I certainly don’t have that answer, BUT MAYBE it isn’t such a bad thing for them to fight and learn how to work out their disagreements with each other

Katie

They definitely will face situations their whole lives where they have to work out conflicts. Maybe what they are doing now with their siblings is preparing them for adulthood??

Laura

I think you may be onto something there. We are in a Bible study that is studying 1 Samuel right now. This week we did the chapters where David is anointed as the next future king of Israel. Do you know that Samuel passed on the first 7 brothers until he got to the youngest brother David? I mean, can you imagine what David must have gone through? How those older brothers might have teased and tormented him?! ?

Katie

That takes sibling rivalry to a whole new level, huh??

Laura

And then when “little” David (maybe a teenager) shows up to bring his big brothers food on the front lines of battle and then that little pipsqueak of a brother not only fights the giant Goliath, but kills him in the name of the God of Israel?! The Bible doesn’t say, but I wonder if that changed the hearts of his brothers? Made them see David in a new light?

Katie

I’ve never thought about that before!

Laura

Can we help our kids to see each other in that new light? To help them use these sibling squabbles to really learn who God made the others ones to be?

Katie

So they can see how each of their siblings has unique gifts – and when they all work together, they can make a great team!

Laura

Yes!! They could be such a force for peace in the world when they work together. I know this seems like crazy talk when I can practically hear them fighting in my sleep. Do you think there’s hope?

Katie

There has to be!! I think our kids are sloooowly learning how to be a team. How to communicate, how to forgive, how to cooperate. And, maybe, what they are learning about bringing peace to their tiny corner of the world right now will translate into being grown-ups who look for opportunities to spread peace, too.

Laura

So what you’re saying is that though we may be in a season of “hate” and “war” now, we are preparing them to live their lives in a season of “love” for others and in “peace” with those around them? That makes the title of conflict negotiator seem a great honor and privilege.

Katie

Yes, it does! I can’t think of any higher honor!

Laura

Wow. Talk about new perspective. For me that is! It’s not going to be easy, of course, but knowing that you are there with me (and every other mom of more than one child), sure does make it a little less daunting.?

Katie

Oh, I think I hear someone screaming!? Time for me to play the negotiator again – but with some renewed hope and purpose!

Soaking in the Truth

Scripture to encourage you:

“There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens: … a time to love and a time to hate, a time for war and a time for peace.” (Ecclesiastes 3:1, 4b, NIV)
“Behold, how good and pleasant it is when brothers dwell in unity!” (Psalm 133:1, ESV)
“Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.” (Ephesians 4:31-32, NIV)
“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called the children of God.” (Matthew 5:9, NIV)
“Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others.” (Philippians 2:3-4, NIV)
Read the story of David in 1 Samuel 16-17.

Music to inspire you:

“Brother feat. Gavin DeGraw” by Need to Breathe
“Family” by TobyMac

Readings and Resources to come alongside of you:

Encouraging Siblings to Get Along This article from Focus on the Family has some great practical strategies. Check out the author’s idea to use tickets to minimize tattling between siblings!
Sibling Cooperation Great ideas from different parents about how to encourage positive sibling relationships.
Siblings Without Rivalry by Adele Faber and Elaine Mazlish

Category Archives: Mom Life

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