When I told my publisher, Sandra Barela of Celebrate Lit, that I was doing a series on Christmas traditions for release week, she generously offered to share some of her outstanding ideas. The woman is a virtual plethora of creativity. After reading her post, I’m inspired! At the end of her post, be sure to enter for a chance at today’s giveaway—an ebook edition of last year’s Christmas novella, All That Glitters.
Hello everyone! I am so excited to read Jennifer’s latest release, Wish Upon a Star, and when she said she was sharing Christmas Traditions, I had to join the fun! In our home, Christmas includes many, many traditions – From baking to decorating to reading, we have created traditions that keep the focus of the Christmas season on Christ. I would like to share a few of those with you, and Jennifer has graciously let me take over two of her release days to be able to do so! YAY!
First, I would like to share our tradition of baking. This started a long, long, long time ago when I was a little girl. Every Christmas we would bake with my mom. It was exciting because I got to play hooky from school and spend a special day with my mom trying new recipes.
I continued that tradition into adulthood, even when I was pregnant and close to my due date (literally within days of delivery) of my kids.
Fast forward a few years. My kids were old enough to help with the baking, and we continued to carry on the 
tradition while making so many memories. How much do we bake? We make about 18 batches of cookie dough, fudge, gingerbread, peanut brittle, and toffee. Sometimes we add another recipe or two.
In order to keep Christ in the center of this particular tradition, we’ve piggy-backed other traditions onto this one.
First, we make up plates of our goodies to share with others. This is a wonderful opportunity to show the love of Christ to our friends and family. I get platters from our local dollar store, load them up with all the fresh goodies we baked, then set out to deliver them.
Another tradition we use the baked goodies for is our Annual Ladies Christmas Tea. We host this event every year and invite friends and family to join us for an afternoon of fun. During the tea we sing Christmas Carols focused on Christ, play games, and have a devotional. We make wonderful memories.
The last tradition I want to share with you today is the yearly Christmas dinner we host for our church family. This is a six-course meal made from scratch – appetizer, soup, salad, main dish, coffee, and dessert. We use our baked goodies for the coffee course. In between each course, we schedule an activity – get to know you, Christmas carols, game 1, devotional, game 2. It is a special night we look forward to each year.
I hope these Christ-centered ideas I shared may inspire you to do something fun with your family and create your own memories!
TIP:
On your baking day, make up all the cookie dough but only bake cookies you need at that time and refrigerate the rest of the dough. This allows you bake goodies as you need them. We do our baking day the second week of December. We have dough all the way though New Years.
Fairy tales and wishing upon stars are for those who still believe in romance.
Sometimes misplaced trust injures more than ourselves, and doesn’t Elaina Hensley know it. When her oldest daughter is left suffering the consequences, Elaina vows to protect her girls at any cost. Nothing, not even her own happiness, will sway her again.
Or will it?
She’s got this protective self-denial down pat—right up to the moment her best friend’s brother arrives on the scene like a fairytale knight, vowing to slay all her dragons. She must—she will resist.
However, when her worst nightmare comes back to haunt her, Elaina has to admit she needs that white knight on her side.
Be sure to click here to enter for a chance to win an ebook copy of All That Glitters. For a limited time, you can receive the ebook edition of Wish Upon a Star the special price of only $2.99. Grab your copy here. If you haven’t yet entered for a chance to win a $15 Amazon Gift Card, click here to do so, and to enter yesterday’s giveaway (an ebook copy of Saving Faith) click here. Don’t forget to come back tomorrow for more Christmas tradition inspiration and enter another giveaway!
