As a Christian parent it is important to me to weave our faith into our family’s traditions. If my children carry nothing else on from their childhood I hope they carry and pass on our faith!
Faith Filled Traditions:
Dedications
We believe in dedicating our children back to God within the first 8 months of their life. Additionally, each of my children have their own dedication gown or outfit with their initials embroidered on it to pass down to their own children. It is my hope that my future grand children’s initials will also be added to the gown/outfit when they wear it for their own dedications.
5 Ways to Celebrate Christmas
On Christmas Day we have a birthday cake for Jesus and sing Happy Birthday to Jesus. It is another reminder of what this day really represents.
We set up a nativity set and on Christmas morning, before we open presents, one child is chosen to place the baby Jesus in the manger.
After our Christmas tree goes up the very first present to go under the tree is a present for Jesus. It is a wrapped box with a slit in the top. Throughout the month each family member is encouraged to offer gifts of service, kindness, or sacrifice to another as a gift for Jesus. After all the presents have been opened we read the gifts offered to Jesus that month.
During the Christmas holidays we place all of the cards we receive onto a Christmas Card Tree. After the Christmas holidays are done we place all of the Christmas cards we receive into a bowl and each night, each child chooses a card and we pray for that Family. Sometimes we send a little post card letting that family know about our tradition and that their family was lifted in prayer. This wonderful tradition was “borrowed” from our sweet neighbors who have carried this tradition on with their 10 children and 42 grandchildren!
Our Advent House celebrates our faith and our family time together in a meaningful way. As a new tradition this year, we are going to begin brainstorming ideas to put in the Advent house after dinner on Thanksgiving day.
Baptism
Our first child was baptized last year in our family’s pool by our Pastor and the spiritual leader of our home, his father. When I look out at our family’s pool I think of that day when our church family gathered around the pool and witnessed our son accepting Jesus Christ as his Lord and Savior. It made such a powerful impression on me that I vowed right then that I wanted each of our children to be baptized by their father, hopefully at our family pool. Finding a way to tie in your family home to a faith filled tradition or milestone is just another way of weaving your faith into the fabric of your family life.
What are some of your family’s faith filled traditions?
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On the first day of school each year we take our children's pictures and then talk with them about the personal milestones (including spiritual) a picture can remind them of. We then talk to them about the goals we think God might have for them in the coming school year. In doing so, we are hoping to help them focus on the eternal, rather than merely the temporal.