I'm really big on family traditions. I grew up with many and want Cole to have that same experience as well. When he was born, Michael and I made a 'list' of some specific Christmas traditions that we wanted to incorporate as we celebrated the holiday each year. Baking a "Happy Birthday Jesus" cake, letting Cole buy for a child in need, counting down the days with a homemade Advent Calendar, and making Christmas treats to deliver to the neighbors were just a few of the things we wanted to do (I must say this year was so much fun being able to finally do some of these treasured things with Cole now that he's older). I had also been wanting to do something with a special gift each year, but was stumped on what to do. After looking through the book "Treasuring God in our Traditions" by Noel Piper (GREAT book) and visiting a friend's blog, I had my idea.
A tradition that I found and loved was one of getting a special ornament each year for your child. Then when he/she gets married, you box up all of 'their' ornaments and give them as a gift for their first Christmas tree with their spouse (we all know how bare those first trees can be!). Many people do a theme (snowmen, Santas, angels, etc.) which I love, but I wanted to add something personal for Cole. His first name, Nathanael, means 'Gift of God' so I wanted to incorporate that somehow. Michael and I decided that since Jesus was the greatest gift ever given, we would get Cole an ornament each year that depicted a name of Christ. We began this year with a beautiful Nativity ornament we found with the inscription - King of Kings. It also has a verse on the back from Isaiah about the birth of Christ. While shopping during the after Christmas sales, we found a beautiful crystal ornament at Pottery Barn that is a cluster of grapes. We both loved it and will use it one year to depict "I am the vine, ye are the branches".
I am also starting a notebook to give with the ornaments when he gets married. It will list the year, the ornament given, the name of Christ it represents, and a supporting Scripture verse.
Just a little insight on a tradition we're starting...what are some of your favorites?
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4 comments:
I love this idea! I love having traditions and this one may need to be added to the list...especially when we have kiddos!
That last comment was from me...Charis. I am sure William agrees with me. :)
I love that idea! In typically Barker style, we started Briley a new Hallmark series with snowmen.
We decided that we would read the Christmas story every Christmas Eve after going to church. Who knows what each new year and her growing up will bring!
Oh, and I love that Charis posted as William, so funny!
Holly. . . yes! Karis was due the day before Jonah's due date and came last week!! It completely freaked me out! :) It made me feel closer to motherhood than ever. . . Do you know what happened? I haven't heard the story. She had a healthy pregnancy didn't she??
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