I love the Christmas season, and I always have. But as I read the other day, Christmas seems to be a great magnifier of good and bad. Many good things seem even better, and hard things can feel even harder. I have known both sides. This time of year reminds me of loss and reminds me of my innumerable blessings. Over the years I’ve parred down the things that we do during Christmas. Don’t get me wrong, I love all the things! But oftentimes I need the simplicity so that I savor the reason we are celebrating and not succumbing to merely being busy. I’ve found that these are things we do every year because they are simple and meaningful. Apart from reading a good advent devotional, here are a few of the sweet traditions we enjoy, old and new:

Cut down a Christmas Tree

We absolutely love going into the mountains to cut down our own tree. Even before we moved to Utah, we would go to tree farms to cut down the cypress trees that grew in our area. It reminds me to find beauty in the simple things. There is no “perfect” tree that grows in the wild. It helps me embrace imperfections. The tree we find is never exactly what I’m looking for, but we love it in spite of what it lacks. I never know what we will find each year, rather like the Christmas season itself. I don't want to look for a “perfect Christmas” but embrace and cherish each day that is given to us.

St. Lucia Day

I found out about this holiday a few years ago and found it so beautiful. It’s mostly celebrated in Sweden. Lucia was one of the early Christian martyrs in the 4th century. She brought food to Christians hiding in the Roman catacombs, supposedly lighting the way with a wreath of candles. The holiday celebrates light in the darkness. This year the girls painted candlelit wreaths to celebrate sharing Christ’s light to the world and the boys were “star boys”, reminding us of the magi who were brought to Jesus by the star (light) in the sky. St. Lucia day is a good reminder to my heart of what is most important and the reason we are celebrating: the light of Jesus coming into the world. It’s a reminder to seek to share that light. The other activities are fun, but far less important than sharing the light of Jesus any way we can.

Christmas Jolabokaflod

This is one of the sweetest Christmas traditions I’ve found. It started in Iceland, when rations were on almost everything but paper. At Christmas people would share their love of books, since everything else was scarce. On Christmas Eve, presents of books are given and all that night and Christmas day they all would read and drink hot chocolate. We choose any day that works leading up to Christmas and get a stack of books to read throughout the day. I make as much hot chocolate as the kids like. (I make my own with just a bit of maple syrup, so it’s not so it’s more of a healthy instead of sugary treat.) I help them choose good books to read, since I too want to share the love of reading and the wealth it brings to life. It is such a sweet day.

Listen to A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens

This is a new tradition for us, but I see it staying for a long time. We have listened to it while we bake, run errands in the car, eat lunch or craft for Christmas. It is such a beautiful story with beautiful word craft by Dickens. We have all enjoyed as Ebenezer Scrooge learns to be kind, generous, and thankful for the gifts of God in each day. It’s a beautiful reminder that happiness isn’t tied to things and that the greatest gifts cannot be bought. God’s grace, the people in our lives, the sheer joy of living another day is reason enough and more to be over-flowingly thankful.

Make Some Gifts

Some years I am more capable of doing more crafts, and some I don't have much capacity for much at all. Even so, it brings us joy to think of what we could make instead of buy. The girls have taken to this like birds to the air, especially our oldest. She loves giving, and this is a sweet way for her to have an unlimited outlet for her gifting. Some years I’ve made most everything for them, and other years just a few things. It’s always exciting to find something to fix up or make. It can be simple. Maybe you’re not a crafty person, and that’s fine. Thrifting is another thing we’ve enjoyed on years we don’t has as much time to make things. Watching the kids open gifts they’ve made for each other is so sweet.

Put on a Christmas Play

This is probably my favorite one. Every year since our oldest was little, we’ve put on a play of the events in Luke 1-2. It’s not a big production. The kids dress up in play silks and pull out their stuffed animals to stand in a sheep and other animals. It’s a beautiful way to help us all remember what happened when Jesus was born. Last year was quite comical with the twins involved, but sweet nonetheless. You can put as much or little into it as you like. The goal for us is usually to memorize the parts, but we do what we can in just a few run-throughs. We make our play one of the big “events” for our Christmas week. We want to put the most emphasis on Jesus. As easy at that may sounds, sometimes it can be hard to do when you are running around shopping and going to lost of Christmas parties. It’s a way we all pause and remember.