Marketing experts tell us “It’s the most wonderful time of year!” as they try to focus on meeting their projections for end of year sales.  According to our Catholic faith, Christmas is one of the most important days of the Church year, because God was made man.  This day is second only to Easter on the Church calendar.  In a world where Christmas means little more than great sales and presents, how can we invite children to behold the Christ child?  Here are nine tips we use in our household.

1. Celebrate Advent (Which Includes Waiting to Light Our Christmas Tree) – Throughout Advent we try our best to focus on the upcoming birth of Christ rather than all the Christmas store displays. Some years we have waited to put our Christmas tree up until December 24. Then Christmas Eve is a fun family day where we decorate the tree as a family.  More recently, we have celebrated the Jesse tree devotion throughout Advent. This devotion calls us to meditate on Salvation History by reflecting on a different bible story each day. Each story is then punctuated by placing an ornament which symbolizes the event on the tree. Our children love hearing the familiar stories and placing an ornament depicting that story on our Jesse tree. We then distinguish Christmas by refraining from turning on the Christmas tree lights until Christmas Eve. Thereby, we are ushering in the light of Christ on Christmas Eve by turning on the lights on our tree.

2. Celebrate the Octave of Christmas – This one goes hand in hand with celebrating advent. Society tells us to take down the Christmas tree on December 26 because they’ve been celebrating Christmas since July.  We leave our Christmas tree up until at least Epiphany on January 6.  This way, we don’t feel we need to do all of our Christmas fun in one day.  We continue to eat Jesus’ birthday cake, listen to Christmas music, enjoy our Christmas tree, and drive around to see beautiful Christmas light displays in our town.

3. Wear Special Clothes to Mass – For Christmas, we make it a point to go to Mass as a family and make it a focal point of celebrations.  Our children wear their nicest, fanciest clothes (which for my daughter means she hopes she gets a new Christmas dress, and many times I will save a new dress for the excitement of having something new to wear on Christmas).  This is the time for suits and all the fluffy dresses!  We then take a family picture in front of our parish’s nativity scene.  This reminds the children that this Mass is even more special than the others of the year.  We also discuss if we think Father will wear white vestments or gold vestments because it’s one of the few days a year our children can expect to see gold vestments.

4. Bake a Birthday Cake for Jesus – This is perhaps our children’s favorite tradition.  Each year, we make a birthday cake and ice cream for Jesus, complete with candles.  One of the younger children is allowed to blow out the candles as we sing, “Happy Birthday to Jesus.”  For our younger children, this especially has reminded them why we are celebrating Christmas.

5. Placing Baby Jesus in the Nativity Scene – While we typically bring out our nativity scene before December 25, baby Jesus is put away in a safe spot until after Christmas Mass.  We then make a grand event of placing the infant Jesus in the manger. This helps remind especially young children what we are celebrating and why.  Just be sure to put Baby Jesus in a safe spot so you remember where He is!  (Don’t ask me how I know!)  It’s fun for the children to make a big deal of placing Baby Jesus in the manager.

6. Don’t Make Presents the Focal Point of the Day – We may get some flak for this!  We choose not to go overboard on presents, and temper expectations accordingly leading up to the day.  We personally have chosen to get each child three presents (something they want, something to wear, and something to eat) in order to make the day less focused on presents and more focused on Jesus’ birth and spending time together as a family.  With five kids, that’s still fifteen presents!  Many times, we end up playing card or board games together in the afternoon to have fun.  However, each family should determine what’s right for them.  You could also choose to save some presents for Epiphany.

7. Listen to Christmas Music on Christmas – Generally, we try to avoid all the Christmas music during Advent, but on Christmas day we make it a point to listen to our favorite Christmas songs (both religious and secular). Often after Christmas Mass, there is a great deal of work to be done. From preparing Christmas dinner to putting the decorations on the tree, we always lighten the load by listening to our favorite Christmas songs. We like to let the children make requests and dedicate songs to one another. We often end up singing along and all have a great time. 

8. A Christmas Light Tour – Going for a drive to see the Christmas lights can be a great family activity (especially if you have little children). The time in the car can be a great time to talk, laugh, and enjoy each other’s company. 

9. Limit Screen Time – Offering everything from the big game to your favorite holiday movie, TV stations are vying for your attention and hoping to keep you on that holiday spending spree. While it may be nice to sit down and watch a Christmas movie as a family, don’t overdo it. Make sure to maintain a sense of family time. Also, be careful not to slink off with that new electronic device you just got for Christmas. There will be plenty of time for that. Instead, make time to be a kid again. Take some time to play side by side with your children as they discover all those new toys. You might just make a memory that none of you will forget.