It's fall! That means it's almost Thanksgiving, which means it's practically Christmas. I'm not trying to jump the gun, but I do want to get this out there so you all have plenty of time to think and plan for this Jesus-celebrating Christmas activity if it's up your alley! Seven years ago when my husband and I got married, one of the things we had to talk through was how we were going to handle holidays. Family, food, gifts, and all that fun stuff. As a couple, we decided not to do Christmas gifts for each other or for our family and friends. Gasp! What? No presents on Christmas? Nope, no presents. Here was our thinking: 1. Our family consists of grown adults who really don't need (or want) anything. 2. We don't like giving out of a sense of obligation. 3. Christmas gifts tend to end up in give-away piles. 4. It's expensive. 5. It's stressful. 6. Christmas is supposed to be about Jesus, not presents. While I was completely on board with the decision, I really kind of missed the gift aspect of Christmas. Not the giving and getting of stuff - I didn't really care so much about that, but I missed wrapping things up in pretty paper and ribbons (it's an art project to me!) and I missed the hustle and bustle of the mall with all the decorations and the hunt for the perfect gifts. But I also really wanted to come up with a Christmas activity that we could work into our family tradition that actually celebrates the birth of Jesus . That's what it's all about, right? I present to you, "Christmas Story by Gifts"! We've been doing this in our family for a few years now, and everyone seems to enjoy it. We even had a non-Christian friend join us for Christmas one year, and he participated with us and really liked it as well. It was a fun and non-threatening way for him to learn about the true Christmas Story! Christmas Story by Gifts gets everyone focused on the real meaning of Christmas (the birth of Jesus Christ) and promotes selflessness and sharing rather than greed and "me, me, me" that so frequently overtakes people at Christmas time. Here's how it works: (Examples and Photos to follow) 1. The Christmas story from the Bible is divided up into 8 sections of Scripture (could be more or less, depending on your family/group size). We have 7 people in our family, but I leave it at 8 sections in case we have anyone join us unexpectedly. 2. Come up with a gift that symbolically represents each section of Scripture. The gifts shouldn't be for any particular person, but rather all the gifts are to be shared and enjoyed by the entire group. Also, they don't need to be anything big or expensive. Things like candy, games, or small toys work well. It's just supposed to be symbolic of the Bible story and get people thinking about it. For example, in the verses that talk about the wise men bringing Jesus gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh, a good (and easy!) gift option would be chocolate gold coins. Look for things that can easily be shared by a group and would likely be enjoyed by most members. (It's OK if not every person likes every gift.) If your family or group does not all live together, find things that can be split up by households or individuals to take home. 3. Wrap each gift and add a gift tag with the Scripture reference and the number of the order it in which it should be opened (going in order of the Bible story). 4. On Christmas morning (or on Christmas Eve, depending on your family's preference), each member of the group draws a number out of a hat that corresponds with one of the gifts. 5. The person who drew #1 finds the gift with the tag marked #1. Before opening it, they read aloud the Bible passage that is written on the gift tag. They can either find this in the Bible and read from there, or you can pre-print the passages on paper to hand out to each member. 6. After reading his or her assigned Bible passage, Person #1 opens the gift. This gift is not "for" them, but is meant to be shared and enjoyed by all. 7. Person #2 then finds gift #2, reads the Scripture, and opens the gift. 8. Each remaining person will go in order of their number until all gifts have been opened. 9. After all gifts have been opened, you can divide the various gifts into goodie bags for each person if it makes sense to do so. So that's the overview. Every year I start fresh and head to the store with Bible verses in hand and hunt out gifts that seem to fit the various parts of the Christmas story, so it's always a little different from year to year. Now here are some photos and examples from what I put together last year. Some of the gifts require more explanation than others, but hopefully you'll get the idea! (I've included links for the Bible verses instead of typing them all out.) #1 Luke 1: 26-35 (Angel announces to Mary that she will bear a child.) This passage talks about how Jesus is the descendant of King David, so therefore He is of the seed of David. The gift? David brand sunflower seeds! #2 Matthew 1:18-25 (Angel tells Joseph that Mary will bear a child.) In this passage, the angel tells Joseph how Jesus will save the people from their sins. I clustered a few small things I found together in one package to show how our sin is dark like coal, but Jesus is our "Life Saver" and makes us clean and shiny like diamonds. The box with the diamond on it in the photo below is a little $5 toy I found where you can chisel away at a real rock and see if there is a real diamond inside. Supposedly some of the boxes contained real diamonds, but sadly I didn't pick out a winner on that one! It was fun watching four grown men try and chisel the rock away with a mini chisel to find out though! #3 Luke 2:1-7 (Joseph and Mary have baby Jesus in Bethlehem.) Ok, I'll admit it. This one was a bit of a fail last year. My family didn't really get it, but here was my thinking behind it. Mary and Joseph had baby Jesus in a stable where the animals hang out, and they laid him in a manger. This reminded me of the song, "Away in a Manger" and the lyrics, "The cattle are lowing, the baby awakes..." I saw beef jerky on the store shelf, and thought, "cattle." Maybe Mary and Joseph needed a snack for their trip back home from Bethlehem, since they were just there for the census, so they made beef jerky? Ya, I know, it's a stretch! I'll do better this year. #4 Luke 2:8-14 (Angel appears to the shepherds and tells them about the birth of Jesus.) This one is fairly self explanatory. Chocolate angel candies! #5 Luke 2:15-20 (Shepherds visit Jesus in the manger.) #6 Matthew 2:1-6 (Wise men search for Jesus.) The wise men knew to search for Jesus because they were knowledgeable about the prophecies about His birth made in the Old Testament. For this gift, I found this little pamphlet that charts out fulfilled prophecies throughout the Bible. Since our family lives in three different households, I bought three of them, so we could each take one home. #7 Matthew 2:7-10 (Wise men follow the star to Jesus.) This little star-shaped Jesus tin contained individually wrapped peppermint candies. #8 Matthew 2:11-12 (Wise men bring Jesus gifts.) One of the gifts they brought Him was gold, so chocolate gold coins are an easy choice for this one! Here are all the gifts wrapped and tagged with their corresponding Scripture printouts: A close-up of the tag: Those were the gifts I chose for our family last year! I stuck mostly to food items to keep the cost down and to make things easily shareable, but in the past I did a couple larger things like puzzles and games that everyone could play together. It's really up to you, and you can be totally creative. One year I even "wrapped up" a song that reminded me of one of the Bible passages and we popped the CD into the player and listened to the song as a family. That one didn't cost a dime, since I already had the CD.
I hope this gives you some inspiration to celebrate Jesus this Christmas! Christmas Story by Gifts is something that you could do in addition to regular gift giving if that suits your family, or it could take its place entirely. Consider doing this in place of stocking stuffers and celebrate the story of Jesus, rather than the story of Santa Claus! To organize this, you could have one person put together the entire project, or you could assign each person in your group one of the Scripture sections to shop for and wrap. It could be a fun activity for a Bible study group to do at Christmastime that really brings everyone's focus back to the reason we celebrate. Have fun with this, and may your Christmas season be full of Jesus this year!
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AuthorFull time office worker, full time wife, and full time lover of Jesus. I'm kind of a Bible nerd, and I have a passion for finding ways to introduce Jesus in a practical way to everyday people doing everyday things. Archives
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