Holidays and Traditions can either be a source of frustration or a source of heaven, often at the very same time. This year I altered one of my favorite traditions to become even more splendid. I learned sometimes we try and do too much and try and make traditions too complicated and it makes it less fun. Simple is better.
Christmas Eve we always do a Shepherd's Night. We start off the night eating shepherd's pie, Have a game and read some books, scriptures, and traditionally make candy cane cookies.
Shepherd's Dinner
I realize that the shepherds really didn't eat shepherd's pie. for the record most likely the shepherds ate fish, nuts, pomegranates, dates, figs, olives and other fruits that were easily dried, and pita bread. we always set the table nice for our dinner but most likely shepherds ate on the ground with their fingers. I thought about having a dinner with foods they ate and sitting on the ground. But my kids do not like fish, and are really not good about trying new foods like figs and dates, so I didn't want a battle on Christmas Eve, so we stick with our Shepherds Pie. But if you have more adventurous eaters it would be fun to have a real shepherds dinner.
Ye Shall Find the Babe
We then play a good game of Find baby Jesus. This is my kid's favorite Christmas tradition. We swaddle a baby doll, and everyone dresses as a shepherd and then there is one Angel. My mom has a full set of nativity costumes, but on occasion I forget to borrow them and then we use towels and what ever we can find for ties around the head, and a pair of $1 store fairy wings, that works well too.
The Angel goes and hides baby Jesus somewhere in the house (while the shepherds are all waiting in a bedroom, or a bathroom or somewhere behind a closed door together).
And then the Angel comes and announces, "fear not, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, for unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord, ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes lying in a manger" Go find him. (the Angel then typically starts giggling uncontrollably in anticipation for the wild hunt to come)
Then the Shepherds disperse and look for baby Jesus.
Who ever finds Baby Jesus gets to be the next angel and they swap costumes with the Angel
This is the point when the mom starts giggling uncontrollably because dad is dressed in a tutu and fairy wings
Shepherd Stories
This normally takes us pretty close to bed time so we just jump right into bed time stories.
Our long time favorite is J is for Jesus: the Sweetest Story Ever Told.
I'm struggling to find any that really grab my attention so I am going to have to search the libraries and book stores. One off of amazon that looks like it might be cute is
The Greatest Shepherd of All
The Amazon description says: On Christmas Eve, Grandpa Woolly shares with three excited youngsters the story of the birth of Baby Jesus, and how three young sheep, much like themselves, met this greatest of all shepherds.
I will keep you posted if I find one that is just amazing.
We will also then read the scripture story of the shepherds.
Bed time
cookies
Growing up we always made Christmas cookies for Santa Claus. I tried to carry this Christmas tradition on in my family. To tie in with the shepherd theme we made Candy Cane cookies after we read the J is for Jesus book. They are most delicious. However, this is exactly what I am talking about by trying to add too much in to our traditions, this was just too much and it stressed me out. So I cut this out, don't worry I will provide the Heavenly Recipe. But this year we simply bought Santa his favorite cookies, Oreos, and called it good. It just occurred to me that maybe next year we will buy him candy cane Oreos. Now for our divine Chocolate Candy Cane Cookies
No comments:
Post a Comment