Here’s What Worked For Us

1. On the first day of December, we put our nativity set on the piano in the living room. But the wise men are not there. They begin their journey from a far corner of the house and move a little each day in the direction of the creche. Every day our kids move them a little closer to the manger. Even our oldest daughter gets a kick out of the traveling Magi!

2. We have resurrected St. Nicholas Day to celebrate the real-life story that lies behind Santa Claus. Some cultures celebrate by filling shoes or stocking with candy and other treats on December 6, the traditional feast day of St. Nicholas (who once threw bags of money down a chimney to help a poor man’s three children enjoy a better life). We prefer to open one family Christmas gift – perhaps a CD or book that we’ll all enjoy through the season. When we open it, we recall St. Nicholas’s secret act of Christian love.

3. Because our church has Swedish roots, we also celebrate Santa Lucia Day on December 13. We re-enact the story of a young European girl persecuted for her faith in the Middle Ages. Each year Wendy, wearing a traditional candle wreath in her hair, rises early to serve breakfast in bed to each member of our family while singing words I’ve written to the traditional old Italian melody “Santa Lucia.”

4. To give modern meaning to the phrase “peace on earth and goodwill to all,” each member of our household shops for what we call goodwill gifts. Every Christmas, each person gives and receives a recycled gift from the Goodwill or Salvation Army thrift store. The pleasure of giving comes not from the gift but from the buying. In fact, the gifts cost less than five dollars and are wrapped in newspaper. But our kids know that the money they spend in these stores goes to help needy people.

5. Because Christmas Eve is largely spent getting ready for special services that night, we started a tradition to redeem the early part of the day. For the last several years we have rolled out of bed early and gone out for breakfast. Because it’s breakfast, the meal is not too expensive. Then we have the waitress take our family picture and add each year’s pose to a special photo album.

6. After we get home from breakfast, the girls and I put a Rudolph-style red rubber ball on the hood of our mini-van and deliver baskets of Wendy’s fresh-baked goodies to our neighbors and those we know have special needs. We bring the packages to the door, and our youngest rings a strand of sleigh bells instead of ringing the door bell. With Merry Christmases and smiles – and a Christmas carol or two – we bring these dear friends a little godly Christmas cheer.

7. Our family Christmas does not end until Epiphany (the Day of the Kings) on January 6. Our Christmas CDs continue to play and our tree remains lit long after other families have packed up their decorations. On the morning of January 6, we grace our breakfast table with five quilted crowns. (The very first year they were cardboard Burger King crowns sprayed gold.) Within each crown are three stocking-stuffer-type small gifts. We gather around the table, read the story of the wise men from the Bible, and sing Epiphany carols, including “The Twelve Days of Christmas,” which documents the history of a twelve-day, post-Christmas celebration that ends on Epiphany. And at the end, we reveal that the wise men have finally joined the rest of the Nativity characters on the piano.