From the time our first child was born, I endeavored to make Christmas a meaning-filled time for our family. I wanted to share materials and activities with my children that focused on Jesus and would bring a greater depth of understanding of his coming. I didn’t want them to think that Santa Claus was the reason that we celebrated Christmas. I spent years writing and rewriting materials; what we are posting on the website is the result, two different daily advent readings, one for younger children (Countdown to Christmas) and one for older (The Message of the Manger).
I hope the Christmas resources we are offering will be as much of a blessing to your family as they were to mine. Our plan is to make another book available for download next year, Making Christmas Meaning-filled: Learning about Jesus through Christmas Symbols and Customs. Although all the material for that book is completed, we won’t release it in book form until it is illustrated. Instead, twice a week for this blog I will post information and a poem from the book explaining a particular Christmas symbol or custom, which you can share with your family if you want.
My very favorite Christmas tradition was making a special ornament each year with my children to give to the members of our church. The children would hand out the ornament with a card explaining its meaning to each family. People would often express how much the collection of ornaments from the Elwell family over the years meant to them. Our own tree we would decorate with past ornaments and remember what was going on the year we made them.
It is always fun to see your children carry on traditions. Last year one of my daughters and her two girls made angel ornaments from Richard’s old ties and gave them out to the family. That ornament serves as a wonderful reminder of how special Richard was to all of us. It pleases me that each year the grandkids can talk about “Gramps” as they hang the ornament on the tree.
I hope the Christmas resources we offer will help you develop meaning-filled Christmas traditions with your family. I would encourage you to post pictures of what you do on Facebook or Instagram and refer people to the Ultimate Outcomes website so they can access the resources. May we all keep our focus this Christmas on Jesus and the fullness of what his coming means for us and the world.