Christmas Around the World, Part 5 - Your House!

During this Advent season, we have been taking a trip around the world, exploring Christmas traditions from different countries. Well, it’s now Christmas Eve, and our final stop is...your house! You probably have your own family traditions around Christmas Day – maybe they’ll look different this year, but we truly hope you’ve found a way to safely make them work. But if there’s room in your day to add another family tradition, give this one a try:

Take some time to tell the Christmas story together. There is a video of the Godly Play Advent story, which we normally tell in Sunday School this time of year, posted on the Family Time page as well. Thanks to the generosity of the Godly Play Foundation, creator of our Sunday School curriculum, which owns the copyright to this material, the video will be available for the next three weeks. You might like to watch it as a family, adults and kids together. Or perhaps you’d prefer to read the story, from the Bible or from this kid-friendly printable. Or maybe you’d like to just tell it, together, out loud. It might not sound exactly the same as if you’d watched it, or read it from a book, but it’ll be just right for your family.

And then...WONDER together. The Godly Play Foundation calls this the Season of Wonder. You can wonder about anything, but we’d like to offer you some ideas, to which everyone in your family can have a chance to respond.

* Prophets are people who come so close to god, and god comes so close to them, that they know which way to go. I wonder if we have any prophets in our lives?

* There are lots of journeys in the story of Jesus’s birth. I wonder if anyone in this family ever went on a great journey?

* The shepherds heard voices from the sky announcing a miracle in Bethlehem. I wonder if anyone in this family has ever heard or seen mysterious things?

* Lots of people give gifts to each other at Christmas, just like the wise men brought gifts for Baby Jesus. I wonder if you ever received a special gift, and what it was like?

And finally:
* Christmas means the year is almost over. I wonder if there’s anything you hope the next year brings? Something you’d like to do, or see, or accomplish?

This last one can be answered in a special way: write down what everyone says, and pack the papers away with your Christmas decorations. When you get everything out again next year, read them and see if things happened like you imagined they would. And whether or not the things you wrote came true, you’ll have lots to talk about while you’re decorating!

Have a wonderful Christmas, and if you make time to wonder together, share your family’s responses with us!