Nail Down a Theme.

Nailing Christmas first step is to NAIL down your family’s theme for this year.  This can be a word, a phrase, a Bible character. With young children, I recommend very simple, tangible, concrete themes.  As your kids get older, feel free to choose more abstract concepts.  

The simplest approach for beginning is to just think about traditional Christmas words and themes:

• Lights
• Angels
• Shepherds
• Wise Men
• Stars

Does any idea jump out at you? What do you think would be fun to teach your children?  What are your interests? 

A second way to pick out a theme is to consider the State Of the Family.  Is there a particular truth they need to have reinforced this Christmas? 

For example, in 2017, there was a lot of strife in our household.  This was very unusual for us and we felt like it was important for our family to rally around the idea of Peace–not the subjective notion of heavenly peace–simply peace as in the absence of war!

What are some ways your family needs to be discipled this year?

• Peace (we are fighting a lot…or worrying too much)
• Love (we have just been selfish or mean lately)
• Waiting (we need to learn how to be patient or focus on praying)
• Generosity (we have been too greedy or discontent)

Finally, is there something about this year that is particularly unique that you would like to capture?  This could be anything from a major family change to a fun new movie you all want to see together.  There are spiritual truths that can be taught from every good story and from every major life event.  Maybe use your Christmas theme to capture exactly what your family was doing in this particular year.

• Adoption (God adopts us into His family)
• Moving (Several people in the Bible had to pick up and move–including Mary just before delivering Jesus)
• The latest superhero movie (Talk about God’s power and spiritual gifts)

The first year we did this our children were very small (6, 4, 2 and 2). The first theme we chose was LIGHTS. Lights are everywhere at Christmas. And lights for little children are one of the best and most exciting parts of Christmas—making emphasizing the theme throughout the week really easy. Conveniently, light is a constant theme in the Bible especially in the Gospels so there are plenty of verses you can use. 

Deciding a Christmas theme does not need to stress you out.  The Bible is full of rich teaching on a multitude of topics.  Next we will build on the theme you’ve chosen.

https://lorettabushlack.wordpress.com/2018/12/17/add-supporting-verses/Click here to continue with the next in the Nailing Christmas series.