Christmas Traditions

As I watch my children pull out Christmas decorations, it reminds me of my childhood.  Did I drive my mom crazy too with my haphazardness in what I wanted to get out first?  Once the tree is up, the kids want to look through their boxes of personal ornaments and see who can get their's on the tree first.

Then comes the nativity box which contains 5 sets of nativities and all the kids want to set their's up somewhere, but mostly the end up keeping them on the toy shelf and playing with them.

Then pack away everyday frames and nicknacks to make a room for Mom & Dad's nativity set.  It's ironic how we have to make room for Jesus, just like so long ago in Bethlehem.

There's always the random fun things as well, like Ben modeling a fashionable treeskirt/manskirt...

and Jake serenading us all with a wooden recorder he found (and driving us a little crazy with it.)

Then it's time for our traditions....our Mary's Starpath.  This tradition has been with us since our first kids were little.  At the beginning of the Advent season, our stars are lined up as a winding path under our tree, big stars marking each advent Sunday and they lead to the wooden stable.  Each night as we prepare to move Mary & Joseph to the next star, we light a candle and sing this song...

On the golden starpath walking,
Mother Mary travels far.

Brings to us the light of heaven,

Brighter than the brightest star.

Moonbeams shine for Mother Mary,

Bells of heaven sweetly ring,

All the earth is hushed to listen,

When the angel voices sing.

Soft her footstep on the starpath,

Stardust sprinkled in her way,

Mary brings to us the Christ child

Brighter than the brightest day.

Then the youngest children take turns taping the star passed onto our starry sky.  Each advent Sunday we read a chapter from Mary's First Christmas.  Another tradition we've done since the kids were little.  It always makes me cry.  Each Sunday, part of our nativity scene grows as well, one week I add the shepherds, one week the sheep and cattle, one week the wise men travelling across the room. 

What would Christmas be without homemade gifts as well.  It is one of my favorite memories from each year....sitting w/ a knitting project in my lap, while the other children are knitting close by and we listen to audiobooks like The Christmas Carol, Narnia series, and many others from Focus on the Family Radio Theatre.  Here is a project I worked on, knitting up potholders then felting them so they would be tight.  I love making these!

Another tradition we have is baking and making treats.  I've shared already about the Christmas cookie challenge we did this year.  I think that did us in for making sweet treats, so I decided to make Snowflake bread for our neighbors.  The kids helped make it, they love to knead the bread, and then they delivered it late one night in the dark, down Crocus Trail to our five neighbors who bless our life day in and day out.

I used our much loved bread recipe and made it Snowflake bread by adding a cut snowflake on the top.