Christmastime is here! My husband and I are enjoying celebrating our first Christmas as a married couple. My hope is for it to be a restful and Christ-centered Christmas season. We’ve decorated our apartment and have a list of Christmas movies to watch. But what’s even more important than those things is our Christmas Advent reading plan. This plan takes us through prophecies in Scripture, Christ’s birth, and our need for Him. This is the most important part of our Christmas celebration because it helps us focus on the real meaning of Christmas. Christmas isn’t about gifts, decorations, and movies. It’s about Christ.
If you, like us, are trying to fight the pull toward materialism at Christmas, I’ve gathered some fun ideas for Christ-centered traditions. These are things I’ve tried, suggestions from people here at Ethnos360 Bible Institute, and ideas I found online. Feel free to pick and choose which ideas work best for you! Don’t make your Christmastime stressful by trying too many things, instead, just try a few.
Christ-Centered Christmas Crafts
Names of Jesus Paper Chain Countdown
I have fond memories of paper chain countdowns from my childhood. We’d make them for Christmas or visits from Nana. One of the ladies on staff here suggested putting the names of Jesus and Bible verses on each chain. As you countdown the days to Christmas, you can discuss both as a family.
Names of Jesus Ornaments
How neat would it be to make Christmas tree ornaments with the names of Jesus on them? You could use construction paper or slices of logs. This would add a bit more meaning to your Christmas tree. You could even pick one to talk about each day.
Gingerbread Nativity Scene
Want a fun twist on making a gingerbread house? Make a gingerbread nativity scene! I found this idea on the Not Consumed blog. I think it’d be a lot of fun for people of all ages! If you have friends over to do it, you could have them each bring some of their favorite candies.
Christ-Centered Christmas Entertainment
Christmas Advent Bible Reading Plan
If you look on Pinterest there are many options for Christmas Advent Reading plans. I ended up choosing one with a few verses to read each day. It’s broken into sections of prophecy, Christ’s birth, the gift of salvation, and Christ’s second coming. It’s already been so neat walking through the Christmas story throughout the whole Bible. We pray together, read the verses, and then discuss them for a while.
Christ-Centered Christmas Music
Christmas music is so fun. I love listening to it from right after Thanksgiving to Christmas. What if we listened to more meaningful Christmas music? There are so many songs about Christ’s birth. Find some on your own or give this playlist I’ve made a listen.
Christ-Centered Christmas Movies
There aren’t many Christmas movies about Christ, but there are a few. Here are some that I’ve enjoyed.
Nativity Story- This movie shows the story of Christ’s birth. It’s one we watched every year as a family, growing up.
The Best Christmas Pageant Ever- There are two versions of this movie, one from 1983 and one from 2024. They’re both good. The story is about the Herdmans, five siblings known for being bullies. These siblings join the church Christmas pageant, against the wishes of many of the church ladies. I love the focus on the story of Christ’s birth and how Christ came for everyone, even the Herdmans.
Christmas with a Capital C- This one’s about a small town in Alaska. A big-city guy comes into town and tries to take Christ out of their Christmas decorations and celebrations. A group of locals work to keep Christ central in their town.
A Charlie Brown Christmas- This cartoon is an absolute treasure. At the end of it, Linus gives a well-worded speech on the true meaning of Christmas.
Listen to Christmas Sermons
Many churches do Christmas sermon series. Look around on sermon audio and find one to listen to on your commute. Also, the Well Community Church has an Advent series on YouTube you can find here.
Christ-Centered Christmas Activities
Live Nativity Scene
A childhood Christmas memory I have is setting up a Nativity scene in our front yard. My siblings dressed up as Mary, Joseph, and the shepherds. We even dressed the dachshund up as a sheep! It was a lot of fun. There was also a year when we went to a drive-through live nativity scene at a local church. See if there’s a church near you that does one!
Christ-Centered Christmas Worship Night
Find Christmas carols to sing about Christ’s birth with family or friends. You could ask someone to play guitar or piano, or simply play recordings and sing along. Serving hot chocolate or apple cider along with this could make it a cozy evening of worship.
Attend a Christmas Eve Service
Most churches have a Christmas Eve service. My dad’s church always had a Christmas Eve Eve service on December 23rd. That was a lot of fun. One of my friends said her family would always go to the Christmas Eve service then have hot chocolate and open one present afterward. Special drinks and food always make Christmas traditions extra fun.
Go Christmas Caroling
Caroling is a fun old-fashioned way to celebrate Christmas. Older people especially enjoy hearing carols! See if there’s an assisted living place you could carol at. This is another thing you could get a group of friends and family together for.
Christ-Centered Christmas Food
Christmas Cookies
Christmas baking is always so much fun. Think sugar cookies, gingersnaps, and rice crispy treats. To make your Christmas baking more Christ-focused you could write Bible verses on little tags and then put them on bags of cookies. You could pass out these bags to friends, family, coworkers, or neighbors. One of my Bible college friends said she always makes sure to bring them to elderly friends and visit with them.
Birthday Cake for Jesus
One of my core childhood memories is of a birthday party for Jesus that I went to. You could make a birthday cake and eat it on Christmas Day or one of the days leading up to it. This is another way to shift the focus to the purpose of the holiday: Christ’s birth.
Bethlehem Themed Picnic
I saw this idea while browsing online. The idea is to have a themed picnic under the Christmas tree. Think about the food Mary and Joseph may have eaten and create a charcuterie board of sorts. Think grapes, oranges, cheese, flatbread, hummus, pomegranates or dates. I love this idea and might try it this year.
Cinnamon Rolls for Christmas Morning
One of my friends said they always eat cinnamon rolls in the shape of a Christmas tree on Christmas morning. Afterward, they read the Christmas story in the Bible. You can find the passages to read in Matthew 1:18-2:12 and Luke 2:1-20. I love the idea of starting Christmas day this way instead of going straight to presents.
Christ-Centered Christmas Giving
Giveaway Things You Don’t Want
One of the missionary kids here at Bible College told me about this idea. She said at Christmastime as a child she’d go through her toys and pick out the ones she didn’t play with anymore. Then she would go around the town she was in on Christmas day giving away her toys to families in the area. It taught her how to bless others. This is something simple that you could do here, too. You could gather toys, books, games, or clothing you no longer need and find a family to bless with them.
Three Gifts
One idea I found online was the idea of giving three gifts to represent the wise men’s three gifts. Some people give a big exciting gift for gold, a book for frankincense, and something practical (like clothing) for myrrh. A friend of mine from a family of all girls does jewelry for the gold, chocolate for myrrh, and perfume or lotion for frankincense. I’m sure you could come up with even more ways to do this.
Snack Bags
Another friend mentioned gathering with friends and family to make snack bags. In these snack bags, they’d put nuts, candy, and fruit. On Christmas, these bags were shared with others. This is another neat way to bless others!
I hope these ideas are helpful and that at least a few interest you! Christmas can be a sweet time and a chaotic time. Remember that what’s most important about this time is celebrating Christ, and pick a few meaningful things (instead of trying to do all the things). Enjoy these activities as reminders that God came down in human form so that He could offer us the gift of salvation.
If you want to learn even more about God’s gift of salvation to us, consider coming to Ethnos360 Bible Institute. You can request a free information packet below. We also offer free online classes.
