Christmas is an amazing opportunity to focus on God’s work in our lives! As a family, we are always looking for new ways to incorporate this focus into our celebrations, and thought maybe some of you would enjoy some of the resources we’ve come across.

One favorite is a names of Jesus advent chain. Each link of a paper chain has a different name of Jesus, and each night of December you remove a link and study what that name reveals to us about our Savior — the gift given on Christmas.  You can find a link for a pdf file of these names in fancy script and some devotional suggestions here:  http://www.spelloutloud.com/names-of-jesus-advent-chain.html

Another favorite for us is the special family devotions Focus on the Family produces through their Thriving Family ministry. Several years of these are available here:  http://www.thrivingfamily.com/free/advent-calendars

If you’re looking for some encouragement and instruction in the importance of making family traditions a platform for teaching your family about God, Noel Piper’s book Treasuring God in Your Traditions is excellent. You can buy it in a nice hardcover format, or it is available as a free pdf download on her husband’s website: http://cdn.desiringgod.org/pdf/books_btgt/btgt.pdf

On the Inspirational Backgrounds tab of our website, you can also find some Christmas themed backgrounds for your electronic devices. These backgrounds have a Scripture verse relating to Christ’s birth.

Merry Christmas! May your family’s celebrations make clear to all that when you celebrate Christmas, you celebrate the birth of the Savior.

*We are not fully endorsing these other ministries, but do find these resources helpful.