10 Gifts for a Christ Centered Christmas with Your KidsEvery year it is the same struggle. Will I let the busyness of the season overwhelm me or will I focus on the real gift of Christmas – the birth of Christ? Gift giving can me stressful and expensive, and as I watch my kids’ wish lists expand as quickly as my own I worry that we are drowning the joy of Christmas with our wants and desires. Gift giving is an important part of how we celebrate the holiday, so today I’m sharing ten gift ideas to help your family have a Christ centered Christmas. As a bonus, the generous folks at Zonderkidz are giving away five of the books I’m featuring to one lucky reader. Read on find out more, enter the giveaway, and then hop over here to find 75+ Gift Guides and Holiday Ideas for Kids from my favorite Kid Blogger Network friends.

10 Gifts for a Christ Centered Christmas with Your Kids

1) Time: Quality time is my number one love language, and it is the one I most often toss aside during the holidays. I think the very best gift we can give our families during the holiday season is sweet quality time, reading the Christmas story, singing carols, and just being together. I know it might sound cliche and maybe even a little impossible, but the gift of slowing down and simplifying will make a deep impact. Here are my ideas for simplifying the holidays and for a joy filled and stress free holiday.

2) Celebrate Advent with a Jesse Tree: We’ve done Jesse Tree for the past two years, and the kids love reading the stories and hanging the ornaments on our little tree. Here is a link to a free ebook with great Jesse Tree ideas. You can make your own, join a Jesse Tree exchange, or order them off Etsy.

3) The Jesus Storybook Bible: If you’ve been around this blog long you know how much I love the Jesus Storybook Bible. I shared how we use it to bring Jesus in to our kids’ daily lives here, and I’ve shared activities to go with it here, here, and here. The JSB tells the true story of Jesus in a way that kids can understand without dumbing it down at all. It will be a true gift for your whole family.

4) The Song of the Stars: This is my FAVORITE Christmas book to read with kids, or really for anyone. It is just beautiful. Written by Sally Lloyd-Jones (author of the Jesus Storybook Bible), it tells the story of all creation worshiping at the birth of Jesus. It makes me cry for joy and I love to read it with my kids. Zonderkidz has board book version that would make a perfect stocking stuffer for toddlers, and a hard back version for every kid. This book is a treasure.

5) Christmas Activities: We do preschool at home, so during the holiday season I choose books and activities that are a good fit for our kids and encourage learning. This year we will be doing the activities in The Beginner’s Bible: A Christmas Celebration Sticker and Activity Book in the weeks leading up to Christmas. We will also be reading My Christmas Stocking and filling stockings for our favorite charity to help teach about giving.

6) A Nativity Set for Kids: I have several beautiful nativity scenes that I use for decoration during Christmas, but they are delicate and breakable. When the Bear was a baby we got this precious nativity set
for kids so he could play with it. We use it to act out the Christmas story with the kids, and leave it out from after Thanksgiving until Epiphany so it becomes part of our celebration.

7) The Berenstain Bears: The Very First Christmas: My kids LOVE the Berenstain Bears, so I knew this book would be a big hit. It tells the Christmas story in way kids can easily understand with the help of the Bear family.

8) Goodnight, Manger: A precious bed time story, Goodnight, Manger is beautifully illustrated and tells the story of Mary and Joseph trying to get the baby Jesus to sleep in the midst of a barn full of animals. It makes a great bed time read during the Christmas season.

9) Baking Cookies and Reading The Legend of the Christmas Cookie: To teach your kids about giving to others and the true spirit of the season, read The Legend of the Christmas Cookie together and then bake a batch of cookies to take to neighbors or a nursing home. The sweet memories you’ll create will be a gift for you as well as your child.

10) Blessing & Anointing Your Kids with Frankincense and Myrrh: The gifts brought to Jesus can also have a special meaning for your family. We read the story of Samuel anointing David, and of the woman washing the feet of Jesus, and then we bless and anoint our kids. It may feel a bit crazy at first, but it is a truly beautiful and holy experience. You can read more about how we do it and exactly what to do here. Frankincense and myrrh are still precious and useful, and you can purchase them through the links in the words.

Zonderkidz is offering a great deal from November 17th through December 1st – get 30% off ALL books with the code CHRISTMAS2015 at Zondervan.com.

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Don’t forget to visit the 75+ Gift Guides and Holiday Ideas for Kids to find the perfect gifts for everyone on your list.
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5 Comments on 10 Gifts for a Christ Centered Christmas with Your Kids

  1. My kids aren’t so little anymore, but some of these are great ideas even for big kids. And I have some little people in my life I would love to share this prize pack with!

  2. I want to reach through this screen and hug you, kiss you, just swallow you up for sharing this list. First of all, Christmas is about CHRIST. I can’t tell you how many bloggers have posted recently about their DIY Advent Calendars and I get so excited to see/read their ideas only to be disappointed because they’re filled with worldly desires, excess spending, selfish acts, etc. Ugh, so annoying and frustrating! Second, The Jesus Storybook Bible is probably my favorite and I think the BEST children’s book out there. I bought it for Kamden right after he was born. He went through a period where he wanted to tear every piece of paper he encountered and I put TJSB away to protect it, but I still read it for my own good. HA! He has another Bible story book that’s hard cardboard and has lots of animal pictures that he LOVES too. Finally, I’m so excited to be spending Thanksgiving with my family and friends in Kentucky. Kamden and I fly out tomorrow morning for the week – I haven’t been home in over a year, sad face! Thanksgiving and Christmas remind me how much I love my family, how grateful I am for them, and how much I appreciate God’s ultimate love and grace for me. This prize pack is incredible – you are amazing for sharing it. I really, really, REALLY hope we win. (Is that selfish?! I promise I’m giving them all away to friends!)

    • Not selfish at all! A library of Christmas books is the perfect gift for your sweet boy. Thanks so much for your kind words.

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