It’s the most wonderful time of the year! It’s also been a really weird year. But although COVID has taken away a lot of normalcy for us (and everyone else), I’m actually really looking forward to a simpler Christmas season. And today I’m sharing a handful of our favorite simple Christmas activities that I hope will bless your family as much as they’ve blessed ours.
Normally, from the week of Thanksgiving until after the New Year, we have almost every Friday and Saturday filled on our calendar. Plus bonus trips, gatherings, and activities in between. We LOVE Christmas and we love all of the fun ways to celebrate, all of the family gatherings, and all of the Christmas parties.
But it’s always a frenzy of activity…and then it’s over.
So this year, with almost everything canceled, I am actually really excited to get to savor a slower, more meaningful Christmas season. Instead of struggling to fit in time for our own little family’s traditions and activities, our calendar is gloriously wide open. And with all the distractions stripped away, our hearts and minds are freed up to really sit still and fix our eyes on Christ.
I hope this list of simple Christmas activities helps you savor this Christmas season. They’re fun, low-stress activities, and most of them keep us pointed to Christ.
Plus, bonus points because ALL of the activities below are either done at home or in places where you don’t have to be near another human. You know, because COVID.
5 SIMPLE CHRISTMAS ACTIVITIES FOR SAVORING A MEANINGFUL CHRISTMAS
SIMPLE CHRISTMAS ACTIVITY NO. 1 | TRUTH IN THE TINSEL
This is my very favorite Advent curriculum! It was actually the first curriculum I ever used that encouraged putting aside a story bible and instead reading the words straight from Scripture. I saw such amazing fruit the first year we used it that after that, we have since always read to our kids from our grown up Bibles.
There are several ways to do Truth in the Tinsel. She offers several different pacing options, as well as an alternative to creating an ornament from scratch each day. So fear not, if you’re not a crafty-type person (or your kids don’t go gaga over glueing like mine do), there’s still so much value in the program.
This will be third year we complete it, and I plan to create ornaments with the boys again this year, just as we did the first year. Last year, because I had a newborn and we were in the middle of getting Little Miss’ diagnosis fully figured out, we did the printable ornaments instead – and it was perfect for us.
And there’s still time to grab yours and get started!
SIMPLE CHRISTMAS ACTIVITY NO. 2 | ADVENT CANDLES & SCRIPTURE READING
A few years ago, we began to observe the full season of Advent for the first time, and this year we bought Advent candles and Blaise made us a wreath to help us focus on who God is and the hope He brings through the birth of Christ. It’s a beautiful way to mark each passing week, and even though it was never part of our church’s tradition, I love making it a part of our family’s.
I’m not sure how most people do the Advent candles, but we are lighting this week’s candle each night just before we read from the Book of Luke together (so we’re lighting the Hope candle every night this week, and the Faith candle every night next week, and so on). We chose to read one chapter from Luke each night as part of our family worship time, so that by the time we get to Christmas, we’ll have read the whole book, covering Jesus’ whole life and ministry.
SIMPLE CHRISTMAS ACTIVITY NO. 3 | THE MOST WONDERFUL DAY OF THE YEAR
We started this tradition two years ago after I read about it in the Magnolia Journal. Joanna wrote a beautiful piece on how their family spends a whole day just doing fun, no-stress activities as a family. We loved the idea because, as I said, our calendar is usually packed with places to go and people to see. So setting aside a whole entire day during the busy Christmas season just for our family had such great appeal to us.
And it is a tradition we adore!
It’s a whole day of activities centered on spending time as a family, making memories, and having fun. We do things like make a pancake breakfast, bake Christmas cookies, build gingerbread houses, watch Christmas movies, build blanket forts, have a dance party, have a pillow fight, enjoy hot chocolate and s’mores, and so on.
We give the kids the most weight in deciding our agenda for the day, but Blaise and I always plan a few little surprises for them. This year, weather permitting, The Night Tree will actually be a part of our Most Wonderful Day of the Year.
SIMPLE CHRISTMAS ACTIVITY NO. 4 | THE NIGHT TREE
What is The Night Tree? Well, it’s actually a book written by Eve Bunting, so I’m not going to give it away. But it’s such a wonderful idea for giving gifts to our friends in the forest as part of our Christmas celebrations. We read it as part of our 24 Books of Christmas this year, and the boys and I decided that we’re going to find our very own Night Tree.
SIMPLE CHRISTMAS ACTIVITY NO. 5 | 24 BOOKS OF CHRISTMAS
We are a read aloud family, and since we follow the Charlotte Mason philosophy of education, that means we read A LOT. This is our second year of reading one Christmas picture book each day leading up to Christmas, and it’s such a sweet way to spend the first few minutes of our morning basket time each morning.
A few days ago, I posted our list of 24 Christmas picture books that are included in our book basket this year. There are some FANTASTIC titles in there, so I’d recommend checking out the list and then heading to your library or Amazon to see what you can find!
BONUS CHRISTMAS ACTIVITY | CHRISTMAS LIGHTS
No Christmas season would be complete without a trip to see Christmas lights. We have several options for big productions of drive-through lights in our area, so we’ll probably pick a family favorite PLUS one new one this year. We always bring a Thermos of hot chocolate and some candy canes for the drive, and jam out to our favorite Christmas songs.
And, of course, we always follow that up with a long drive through neighborhoods to check out the lights. It’s a simple tradition, for sure, but one we really enjoy.
JUST TYPING THESE SIMPLE CHRISTMAS ACTIVITIES OUT GETS ME EXCITED ABOUT THIS HOLIDAY SEASON!
I know, Christmas will probably look a lot different for most of us this year. But that doesn’t mean it cannot be just as meaningful – and maybe even more-so without all of the extras that tend to make it hectic and stressful.
But whether you do these simple Christmas activities or not, I hope that your family is able to really slow down and focus on Jesus this Christmas season. He’s not just the reason for the season, He’s the reason for our very existence.
Merry Christmas, friend!
