every side of this season

orlando and i had a talk the other night about how we celebrate this wonderful christmas season and how we want to make it a magical and Christ-centered time of year for our children. we are really good at the decorating and the present wrapping and the cookie making, but somehow we are not always really good about taking time out to focus on the birth of our Savior, Jesus Christ. i think that both sides of christmas are important- we all need a little santa and the magic of the season, but we all really need to be spiritually uplifted this time of year too.

so this year, in an effort to be more spiritually uplifted, we are counting down the 12 days of CHRISTmas {starting wednesday} with a daily activity or lesson that is Christ-focused. i'm making our list of ideas today and i'm excited to get started! i'll share them here and if you think of anything to add, let me know.

all this talk about celebrating christmas with our kids has gotten me so excited.  i can't wait to be santa claus and bake messy neighbor gifts and dress them up to act out the nativity scene on christmas eve. i've been pinning christmas ideas for weeks now- some to do this year and some to start when our kids arrive. my favorites:

the new bible movies on lds.org

a christmas book advent for the kiddos

peppermint cake roll, my favorite!

an activity advent for the family

christmas journals and wollen stockings