I want a Christ-centered Christmas, but wow, when life is crazy-busy (and this world is just plain crazy!) how do I do that? Do you feel guilty already for the things you aren’t going to do, and stressed over the list of things you think you should do?

For the next few weeks I’ll share “How to Create a Christ-centered Christmas,” and simple ways to Keep Christ in Christmas! I’m sure the struggle and desire for that is in your heart, like mine. You realize as you raise your family and you’re SO Busy this time of year and your kids are so busy that it’s really difficult to have your hearts centered on what the real meaning is. We want to. Very much.

I think, for me, sometimes I dream of this quiet, old-fashioned Christmas. Maybe you do, too. But, in our very busy, hustle-bustle world, that’s not what it looks like.

Our Children’s World Doesn’t Know Who Jesus Christ Is

Our children are growing up in this time. I also know that around us, in our country, the United States—we think of it as a Christian nation—but there’re a lot of people–there are a lot of children who don’t know anything about Jesus.

I remember when my brother and his son used to come every year for a visit. My brother was not a Christian, not a believer. One year, my nephew climbed up in his daddy’s lap, and I was in the other room, and I heard my nephew ask my brother, “Who’s Jesus?” That is the condition of many people in this nation and this world.

Simple Ways to Create A Christ-Centered Christmas

I want to talk about some ways that we can create a Christ-centered Christmas.

The first one is that we can talk about it as Jesus’ birthday. We are celebrating the birth of Christ. Our children know what it means to celebrate a birthday. They get excited about that!

Maybe you’re already doing that. These might be old ideas. It’s a very simple thing to be talking about Jesus’ birthday more and to really think about celebrating it as a birthday.

Celebrate Jesus’ Birthday To Have A Christ-Centered Christmas

Maybe, to create a more Christ-centered Christmas, we can ask, “How can we celebrate His birthday? And how can we do this in a way that can make our thoughts centered on Him more?”

I thought of some ways and you can ask your children. An obvious one and one that many people do is, you can bake a cake! You can bake a birthday cake. You can have a party. You can celebrate with balloons. And you can have gifts! And we do at Christmas, don’t we?! But, we don’t necessarily think of it as celebrating Jesus’ birthday! So, we can talk about it that way.

Countdown to a Christ-Centered Christmas Day

We can have a countdown to the date. Many of you, I know, are doing Advent activities. You don’t have to start at a certain time in order to have it “work,” you might say. It doesn’t have to be perfect! Just Start! If you haven’t started yet. Just start.

There are books you can use and build traditions and routines on, that will become treasured and remembered, looked forward to and lead your children to the Truth of God’s Word about Christmas. This is how you intentionally create a Christ-centered Christmas. These old great books that I used to read to my kids–one is called Jotham’s Journey. It’s part of a Series for Advent. I can’t pronounce the author’s name, but he is Arnold Ytreeide.

The Advent Series Includes:

• Jotham’s Journey,by Arnold Itreeide 
• Tabitha’s Travels,by Arnold Itreeide
• Bartholomew’s Passage,by Arnold Itreeide
• Ishtar’s Odyssey, by Arnold Itreeide
• The Christmas Miracle of Jonathan Toomey, by Susan Wojciechowski 

“I ask whether you pray because diligence in prayer is the secret of eminent holiness.”

-Wendy Gunn

How Can We Create a More Christ-Centered Christmas

Jotham’s Journey, Tabitha’s Travels, Bartholomew’s Passage, and one I didn’t know of in the series, Ishtar’s Odyssey are all written by Arnold Ytreeide. There’s another one that’s not part of the series, but it’s called, The Christmas Miracle of Jonathan Toomey, by Susan Wojciechowski, that I really enjoy. You can begin to have a more Christ-centered Christmas as you slow down and take time to read books that are related to Jesus’ birthday and His coming and promote Godly character. Good times to do this are as you sit down at the table to eat–or right after supper, and at bedtime. This includes Dad in the tradition.

If your evenings are too hectic, you may want to consider including it in your Morning Basket time. These books make wonderful early Christmas presents, and count as school. You are reading history, the real-life history of Jesus Christ.

Next week, join me as we continue to look at ways to Create a Christ-Centered Christmas!