This Christmas is the first Christmas my 3 year old, Brianna will remember. We are trying to teach her what Christmas is all about, the birth of Jesus. She helped us set up the nativity. She even has one in her room. Brianna tells us ”Just remember Baby Jesus is not in the crib until December 25th.”  We are counting down the days until his birth with our Advent Calendar, with every day she gets a token gift. She thinks this is better than her birthday.

Every night when we sit down to dinner as a family we say grace and light the Advent wreath. She likes it because the candles are her favorite colors then she gets to blow them out like birthday candles. We talk about Jesus’ birthday each week, lighting one more candle until Christmas. We chose a gorgeous Shamrock Advent candleholder to help bring together our heritage and tradition.

Teaching her all the traditions of Christmas that we learned as children makes our holidays so much better. One of those traditions is, as a family, we all go out to the tree farm and pick out the perfect Christmas tree. We bring the tree home, make some hot cocoa, pull out all the boxes of ornaments and enjoy each others company the rest of the day while decorating the tree. After a wonderful afternoon of cocoa, laughter and family, the tree is complete with all of the ornaments but one – saving the most special one for last – the golden star tree topper that has been in my family for years. The moment had finally come where we all gather around the tree and turn on the lights. I picked up my little 3 year old, Brianna, so she could get a better view of the tree, and when she did she said “Look mama, the star is like the one from the baby Jesus nativity.” It warms my heart to know that even at 3 years old, she understands the true meaning of Christmas.

Christmas time has been a special time for not only keeping traditions that I remember as a child, but introducing new family traditions that my children can pass down to their their children. On Christmas eve, all of the family – aunts, uncles, cousins, brothers and sisters gather together for a special dinner. After dinner we usually play games, and share stories. This year I found a new tradition to start  – I found a special children’s book, A Special Place for Santa that tells the story about how St. Nicholas came to be known internationally and the celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ, which is the true meaning behind Christmas.  After dinner this year – all the children will gather around Grandpa, while he reads this heartwarming story to all the kids. The Christmas season is a time to celebrate the birth of baby Jesus, enjoy family and friends, keep family traditions going and remember what is really important.