Twelve Meaningful Christmas Traditions

Creating meaningful holiday traditions that require children to give of themselves is one tool homeschooling parents can use to teach the true meaning of Christmas. In light of God giving His ultimate gift to us, try a few of these practical ideas with your homeschooling family this December:

1. Exchange names between family members and make handmade gifts.

2. Make relatives homemade cards and ornaments that reflect the story of Christ's birth.

3. Bake Christmas goodies and make holiday trays for family, neighbors, and friends.

4. Visit shut-ins from your church or the elderly in a nursing home and sing Christmas hymns and carols.

5. Participate in a giving tree campaign for children of prison inmates or Christmas shoebox campaigns for children overseas.

6. Let small children place a piece of straw in baby Jesus' manger every time they do a kind deed.

7. Invite another family to attend a Christmas Eve candlelight service.

8. Partner with others in a Christmas cantata or play and share the story of God's love through song or drama.

9. Adopt a family in your neighborhood or church and secretly give Christmas gifts to each member.

10. Invite your children's friends over to enjoy Christmas treats and watch a special Christmas video like The Perfect Gift, Homeless for the Holidays, or Kingdom under the Sea: The Gift.

11. Serve food at a homeless shelter or share your Christmas celebration with a college or foreign exchange student who is unable to go home for the holidays.

12. Select a missionary family and send a Christmas care box filled with new items.