How to Be Intentional for the Christmas Season

Christmas is without a doubt my favorite holiday. I love so many things about the season. So many things that sometimes it becomes too much. I’ve woken up the day after Christmas many times just thankful to have made it through and glad to be done.

Over the years I have realized that I have to choose to be intentional about what this season will look like for me and for my family. If I don’t, then my idealistic ideas combined with other’s expectations results in a lot of flurry and frenetic activities but not a quieted heart that remembers the wonder of God sending His son to earth. I also miss out on ways to love others – particularly my children and those God has placed in my life when I am a crazy go-survival-mode.

I want to be purposeful to love out of God’s great love during this season and I just can’t do that when rushing everywhere and going crazy.

Here are 5 ways I have chosen to be intentional in December, in the season of Advent – where we await and celebrate Christ’s coming…

1. Spend Time Seeking the Lord

I do this by myself for a couple hours at the end of November. I ask the Lord to show me what is important in the next month. I sit in silence and wait for Him to speak to my heart and give me insight and wisdom. I ask Him how to connect to Him, how to help connect my kids to Him and what we need to do and not do. I ask Him for wisdom because some years need to involve parties and Christmas cards, and other years don’t. I seek His heart for this year for myself and our family.

2. Honestly Evaluate My Capacity

During this time of prayer I ask God to help me to be gracious and honest with my capacity. If it was a year when I was nursing a newborn, there will just be less time and energy to be able to do all the things. If this is a year when all the kids and myself are healthy and strong, then I can do more activities and care for others outside of my family.

3. Talk with My Family

I talk with my children and Steve and decide what activities we want to include as special traditions or things we do in the month of December. Each year this has looked different. Some things we do every year and some activities we do and then decide not to do again!

4. Ask Who We Can Love

Living in our Western culture it is challenging to keep my kids aware of what is most important at Christmas. My youngest said one day, “Christmas is all about the presents!” I laughed and cringed at the comment. I remember the delight of unwrapping presents on Christmas morning as a girl. And yet I don’t want my children to feel or think that is the main reason why we celebrate Christmas. I have found one of the best ways to help us remember why we are celebrating is to ask God to show us someone or a group of people that we can love and encourage. So together as a family we pray about this and choose a way or multiple ways we can love someone else and show them a tangible expression of Jesus’ love.

5. Remember the Person

No matter what wonderful things we do or don’t do during the Christmas season – I want to be renewed in our awe that Jesus was born to save us. If we do nothing else, this is the point! As Jesus followers, this is a special time we set aside to celebrate the coming of Christ. One year we did this with the whole family laid out with influenza. We were still able to worship Him. There will be joyful years and there will be hard and sad years. No matter what He is worthy of our attention and our praise. And that’s what I want my kids to feel and remember about Christmas!

Want a FREE Christmas Planner?

Click Here to grab mine for this year. You can print off whichever sheets are helpful for you!

I also created The Promised One Family Advent Study with my dear friend Christa Mattocks (illustrator). You can get the ebook or paperback version on Amazon. It comes with a Free Download for a Coloring Book that goes along with the study.

What have you done to be intentional during the Christmas season?