December is a wonderful month, filled with meaning and traditions. Here are some of the traditions and ways that we celebrate the season in our home.
Focusing on Jesus Christ: Beginning December 1st, each night before bed we read a story from the life of Jesus Christ. We first started this back in 2008, and we are still going strong! We use a reading guide from The Friend magazine (laminated for durability), and the pictures from the Gospel Art Kit. This year I put all of the pictures in sheet protectors in a binder, so they are ready to go each night. The children take turns placing a sticker on the chart to mark our progress. Read more about this here.
Watch Holiday Movies: We always enjoy watching movies as a family, and our never-to-be-missed movie list this month includes White Christmas, Elf, and The Grinch Who Stole Christmas (the cartoon Dr. Seuss version). My husband and I enjoy It’s a Wonderful Life, but our children are still a little young and didn’t show much interest in it when we tried it last year. Sometime during the month we will have a Polar Express Pajama Party with friends and drink hot chocolate!
We also love to watch the Christmas messages produced by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Mr. Krueger’s Christmas is a classic, along with Nora’s Christmas Gift. There are a number of moving videos on the Mormon Channel and from The Mormon Tabernacle Choir. Just released this year is an amazing collaboration by talented YouTube artists . Please watch and share this message, you will be touched!
Community Activities: We support the holiday events in our community! For us this includes viewing the lights at the hospital duck pond, admiring nativity sets from around the world at our church’s Festival of the Nativity, participating in a ward party (and with musical talents that usually means my husband and I are performing something on the piano), and holding a piano recital for my students.
Reading books: You can find our December reading list here.
Family Home Evening: When Monday night comes, this is what we are doing for FHE!
On the Menu: take a peek at our Christmas menu .
What special traditions do you have this Christmas season?