Advent Calendar of Christmas Memories - Traditions

Although Christmas has always been about the birth of the Christ child for me, once I became a mom, I needed a tangible way to have my children know that Christmas wasn't just about Santa and presents. It was about Baby Jesus and all that He gave to us. So, we started a Christmas eve tradition of celebrating Jesus' birthday. When I was teaching Sunday School, this was one of the favourtie days in the Sunday School year. We would start in advent, learning about advent, then starting our way through the Christmas story. On the Sunday before Christmas, we had our birthday party for Jesus, complete with games, balloons and cake. The kids received loot bags and were asked to bring in an unwrapped toy for a child in need. It was always such a fun day and often the kids would bring a friend to enjoy the party with us.

My kids are a bit older now, but the tradition continues with a birthday cake for Jesus on Christmas eve. Hopefully this is a tradition that my kids will carry forth with their kids.