My kids love making Christmas wish lists, having inherited the skill from their list-dependent mother and father both. But in my pondering of how to make our Christmas season more meaningful and less of the if-I-can-just-survive-until-January mentality, I thought it would be great to get the whole family's input. So I quick whipped up the Family Christmas List. (If you're in reader mode, you'll have to click over to the blog to see the list, or just click on the link below and it takes you to Scribd.)
Family Christmas List
The Family Christmas List is actually four different lists in one: presents, family activities, other activities, and service/charitable giving. It was a huge hit! We presented the list to the kids after dinner Sunday night and they eagerly set to work.
The list gave us a great opportunity to further train our children in Christian living. For example, Ryne had no problem filling out the first three categories, but left the last section completely blank. No wonder! Usually when our family serves Christ in concrete ways, Ryne is just told what we're doing. The girls struggled a little with this part of the list too, so for a kid with autism it was even harder.
In case you're wondering, yes, Marc and I filled out a list too. Actually, I'm still working on mine. The next step is for Marc and I to look over everyone's lists and decide what we will actually do. Ideally, I would have had this idea a week or more ago and we could already have our plans made before the holidays were in full swing.
I know this list doesn't guarantee we will have a Christ-centered Christmas, but it at least helps us to be thinking about it and planning for it, instead of just hoping that magically this will be the year we finally get Christmas right.
Another burst of inspiration just hit (and I'm not even in the shower): I will do a follow-up post later in December sharing how our list came to fruition. If you are able to use this list (or do something similar in your family), I'd love to hear what kinds of activities your family enjoys.
Happy Planning!
P.S. Prints on US Legal size paper (8.5 x 14)
Header created using Christmas Treasures kit from Crafty Queen at www.craftyQueen.com
Kellie,
ReplyDeleteI like this:
"I know this list doesn't guarantee we will have a Christ-centered Christmas, but it at least helps us to be thinking about it and planning for it, instead of just hoping that magically this will be the year we finally get Christmas right. "
I'm trying to be intentional about Thanksgiving and Christmas this year, perhaps more than ever, and this helps. Thank you for the link to the Christmas Your Way eBook. I haven't run across anything quite like that and it helps with my planning.
Love this!
ReplyDeleteI am going to print it off and use it. I can't guarantee that I will post about it, but will definitely use for planning.
I get most of my ideas in the shower, too. I would like to run a survey. I imagine that's a mom-thing, because it's the only place we get to be alone and think. :)
Kellie,
ReplyDeletewhile on the thread of keeping things simplified and easy for Christmas....and since you've blogged about organizing your pictures, I have to share.
I just finished a project that has been in existence over the past several months. Last February during a few snow days, I cut and glued photos and placed in albums for each of my four children, my own album, and an a album I make pages of for my in-laws. I've done it for 15 years. I decided to do it differently and created files on the computer for each album. As I would download pictures, I would copy and paste them in their prospective files. I just created photo books on snapfish and wow was that ever a cinch!!!! And fun, to boot!!! Way more fun that scissors and glue and really, not that much more in cost when you consider printing costs of photos and also photo albums and pages. These books will be Christmas presents this year. : )
~Melanie