As Thanksgiving fades into the background, Christmas comes blaring in with lights, tensile, and bells.  Christmas so often becomes a whirlwind season as you get older.  There are presents to buy, decorations to put up, and many parties to attend.  Sadly that whirlwind quite often can steal all the joy out of the season.

Having young child can just make you want to do more to make it a magical time.  Parents cram more lights, more presents, and more festivities into the month.  In the shuffle we lose our minds and often our children lose the meaning of the whole season. 

This month we are stepping into the Christmas season with a two year old for the first time.  I'm excited for my daughter to experience many Christmas joys with new appreciation.   I am also excited to share the meaning of Christmas in more detail and more intentionality than before.  With my new found love for planning and scheduling, I started planning our Christmas goals in November.  I had a long bucket list of things to do and multiple options for family devotions for the month of December.  While I haven't narrowed down my bucket list yet, I have decided on a path for our devotions.

I started my search with Unwrapping the Greatest Gift by Ann Voskamp, I moved on to the Jesse Tree, looked at The Jesus Story Book Bible Advent Guide, and settled on Jesse Tree reading from The Jesus Story Book Bible I found on pinterest coupled with Free printable Jesse Tree ornaments to color.  I plan to read the story each morning with my daughter and let her color the ornament during the day.  We will then read the story again at night as a family before going to bed and she will be able to hang the ornament on a small tree we put up in the playroom.

I am excited to use The Jesus Story Book Bible that I know my daughter likes and understand to do a devotional.  I also love the idea of the Jesse Tree, where it tells Jesus heritage and presents the gospel.  The fact that it has an easy craft that my daughter loves, but wont be a burden on me is fantastic.  Plus having an ornament for each story makes it possible for us to easily review what we have read. 

I am excited to see how the devotionals work and if we are starting a new tradition that will stick.  Do you do a family Christmas devotional as a family?  How do you keep Christ the center of your Christmas celebrations?  I would love to hear what has worked for you and your family.