December has arrived, and while we all feel the pull of holiday cheer with sweet decorations, Christmas songs, and holiday lights, this season can easily start to feel busy and overwhelming. 

When the calendar overflows with holiday traditions and festivities, if you aren’t careful, it can also become chaotic and exhausting. For parents trying to make the season special and memorable, it can quickly turn into a never-ending task list of shopping and preparation.

In this blog post I am sharing ways to make the Christmas season meaningful in your home while holding onto the true intention of the season: The entrance of Jesus into the world as the Messiah and Savior.

This blog post includes ways to identify and stay true to what matters to your family, ideas for teaching your children the Biblical Nativity story, and other ways to make the holiday season special without missing the point.

In this blog post:

• Encouragement to pause and consider your hopes for the holiday season
• Transform your homeschool into Christmas-school
• Read cherished books together with children
• Teach children to focus more on giving than receiving
• The heart of Christmas: Telling the nativity story in your home [Free Printable Nativity Story for Kids]
• Intentional Christmas learning from Treehouse Schoolhouse

Encouragement to pause and consider your hopes for the holiday season

Before getting swept up in holiday events and plans, take a moment to pause and reflect on your hopes for the Christmas season. Consider what is important to you as a parent, what you want your kids to remember from Christmas as a child, and what the holiday is like in your home.

Here are some ideas that may resonate with you:

• Learning and teaching the story of Christ’s birth
• Teaching children to see how Christmas points to Jesus as Savior
• Creating traditions in your home your children will remember (Reading books, making crafts, and baking treats!)
• Gift-giving and finding ways to give to those in need
• Slowing down and enjoying simple moments with family and friends

If ideas like these resonate with you, you will quickly see the conflict between these sentiments and what Christmas can be like. Quiet moments at home are different from the hustle of holiday shopping or worrying over budgeting and holiday spending. Attending every community Christmas event and parade will collide with restful nights at home to laugh and enjoy your family and friends. Bouncing from one thing to another can quickly override the intention to pause and recount the story of Jesus. 

Have you ever stopped to ask your children what they remember from Christmas the year before? I am often surprised that the things I was most excited about in previous years do not match up with what my children remember and look forward to – and that’s OK! Talk to your kids about previous years and what they hope to do this year. Invite them into the conversation about what they enjoy and what sticks out in their minds. Tune into your children’s hopes for the season and find joy in these simple moments together.

While holiday parades and Christmas lights are enjoyable, give the moments you are hoping for a place on your calendar. Make your “yeses” count, and realize that saying yes to everything outside of your home can often come at the expense of what happens inside of your home.

Transform your homeschool into Christmas-school

Give yourself permission to pause rigorous academics and delight in learning during the Christmas season. 

Why keep doing routine lessons when you can direct your child’s entire school environment toward Christ? I want to look back at Christmas and feel like we slowed down, were connected as a family, and soaked in the beauty of Jesus coming to the world. During this time of year we pause one or two of our academic studies and focus on a Christmas unit study, which we often call “Christmas-school.”

This can be done at any level. Bring Scripture into your homeschool as you read the nativity story, and use this as the foundation of learning through narration, copywork, handwriting, and more. Talk about Biblical history, poetry, classical works of art, and weave these into your study of Jesus’ birth. Choose a Christmas curriculum that gives a foundation for learning with intention during the holiday season.

Small children can focus on copywork, listening to stories, and hands-on crafts. Older children can read books to younger children, memorize and recite poetry, and research the history of Christmas traditions. Practice math in the kitchen as you double or triple recipes to bake for family and friends. Weave Biblical truths into everyday learning to instill the nativity story in their hearts.

Read cherished Christmas books together with children

I love the habit of reading all year long, but during the Christmas season books are one way we slow down and delight in heartwarming stories and truth. Our holiday tradition is to wrap our Christmas books in wrapping paper, including old favorites and a few new ones. Each day we unwrap a book or two and read together. It is a fun tradition to be surprised with each day’s reading.

Here are some of our favorites:

• The Christmas Miracle of Jonathan Toomey by Susan Wojciechowski is a beloved story about a lonely woodcarver who never smiles. Yet through the story, he receives his own Christmas miracle.
• The Christmas Promise: A True Story from the Bible about God’s Forever King by Alison Mitchell is a beautifully illustrated and captivating retelling of the Christmas story, showing how God kept his promise to send a new King, a rescuing King, a forever King. (We also love the Yoto card.)
• Song of the Stars: A Christmas Story by Sally Lloyd Jones is a beautiful story about how all of creation is waiting for and celebrating the arrival of Jesus. 
• An Orange for Frankie by Patricia Polacco is a heartfelt story about the anticipation of Christmas and a lesson about giving.
• Christmas Tapestry by Patricia Polacco is a story about a Christmas miracle at a small church on Christmas Eve.
• The Best Christmas Pageant Ever by Barbara Robinson is a children’s chapter book that tells how the worst children in town take over the Christmas pageant, ultimately leading the whole town to understand the true meaning of Christmas. This is a fun choice for families who love read-alouds or are looking for a fun holiday book study.
• Letters from Father Christmas by J.R.R Tolkien is a collection of letters and illustrations that Tolkien created for his children as letters from Father Christmas with tales from the North Pole.

Teach children to focus more on giving than receiving

As children naturally start to rattle off their wish lists and must-have items, use this as an opportunity to redirect children to thinking about how they want to give to others this year. Give kids a chance to think about it. How can they give, serve, and love others? Teach children that giving is the highlight of the season, not just looking forward to opening presents on Christmas morning. 

In our family, we spend time with our children creating a “giving list.” Each child makes a list of people they want to give to, and items that person would like. Then, we spend a day shopping for our giving list, whether that is going to the dollar store, thrift store, or picking up craft supplies to make DIY gifts for family and friends. When their gifts are gathered, they enjoy wrapping each gift themselves. 

Other simple ideas for giving during the holiday season could be:

• Baking or making cards for elderly neighbors or church members. 
• Singing carols at a nursing home.
• Donating to organizations that help others, like Samaritan’s Purse, which provides spiritual and physical aid to hurting people around the world. (We love making shoeboxes for Operation Christmas Child.)
• Random acts of kindness, like paying for the coffee order behind you in line or in a drive-thru.
• Purchase extra copies of your favorite Christmas books and drop them off in Free Little Libraries in your community.
• Going to thrift stores and buying coats, hats, gloves, and blankets to donate to a homeless ministry.
• Going door-to-door in your neighborhood to get to know your neighbors, singing carols, giving baked goods, and Christmas cards.
• Giving “coupons” as a family to someone in need like helping with yard work, feeding pets, or extra childcare.

The heart of Christmas: Telling the nativity story in your home [Free Printable Nativity Story for Kids]

As you enjoy the holiday cheer in your home and in your community, tell your children the story of Jesus’ birth with joy and excitement, helping your children to recognize its importance. Teach your children about the birth of Christ, born to a virgin in a humble stable, and how men and angels rejoiced at the time of His birth. Teach them why Jesus came – to fulfill a promise, grow up, and give His life to bring the world hope and salvation.

To help teach your children the story of Christ’s birth, we are excited to bring you this free, printable nativity story for children, which includes a simple retelling of the birth of Christ and coordinating Nativity Storytelling Pieces. It is designed to give children an opportunity for play and storytelling so they can learn and delight in the story of the birth of Jesus. Download the free, printable Nativity Story with Storytelling Pieces below..

We recommend that you read the nativity story from Scripture, tell it from memory, or read the story we have included. Children can act out the story as they listen with the Nativity Storytelling Pieces. You may choose to repeat the story over several days to give children the opportunity to tell the story back to you as they learn it themselves.

We hope this simple activity blesses your family this season and brings the story of the birth of Christ to life.

Intentional Christmas learning from Treehouse Schoolhouse

If you are looking with ways to connect with your family this holiday season, enjoy these intentional advent studies from Treehouse Schoolhouse.

A Connected Christmas

A Connected Christmas is our original, three-week advent study designed for the whole family. Gather your family and celebrate beauty and delight through festive carols, stories, poetry, art, baking, and handcrafts. It’s about family, it’s about Him. It’s about connecting hearts to the heart of Christmas–to the truth of Jesus coming to earth to seek and save the lost.

A Connected Christmas, Volume Two

A Connected Christmas, Volume Two continues the same holiday tradition of carols, stories, poetry, art, baking, and handcrafts, designed to bring your family together during this holiday season. Share in the love of Christ by revisiting the Nativity story along with new stories and heartwarming activities to enjoy this season together.

is an invitation to gather your family and celebrate beauty and delight through festive carols, stories, poetry, art, baking, and handcrafts. It’s about family, it’s about Him. It’s about connecting hearts to the heart of Christmas–to the truth of Jesus coming to earth to seek and save the lost.

A Connected Christmas: Around the World

Travel around the world this holiday season and connect hearts to the truth of Jesus while experiencing how Christmas is celebrated across the globe through A Connected Christmas: Around the World. This study has a special focus on geography and cultural traditions as you learn how Christmas is celebrated worldwide during this special time of year.