The Christmas season can get so incredibly busy and hectic that it is very easy to lose the true meaning of this blessed season.

For a number of weeks I have been thinking about how we can simplify Christmas and still keep it special and magical for our children (and ourselves).

A few years ago I planned a mini-series around this idea of simplifying Christmas. I’ve updated and revised that mini-series and thought I’d share it again, this December.

Goal setting has become imperative for me when it comes to planning a simplified Christmas.

When we lived in Grande Prairie, we didn’t have family around us so one of our goals was to still create a sense of family and celebration even though our ‘related to us family’ was not near by. Now that we live near family, we find that we need to pick and choose which activities/traditions we are going to take part in so that we still get that sense of family and celebration, but don’t wear ourselves thin and lose the magic of the season and most importantly, the reason we celebrate Christmas.

The second goal was to choose a few traditions that are age appropriate for our kids and go with those, keeping a couple for us as adults too.

The third goal, and most important one, was to keep the story of Christmas and the reason for this season alive.

Ann Voskamp, the New York Times best selling author and fellow Canadian, has written an amazing book: The Greatest Gift: Unwrapping the Full Love Story of Christmas.

The Greatest Gift, is a book I thoroughly enjoyed a few Christmases ago. What really spoke to me is this:

That is what I want for Christmas. “A Christmas you can hold. A Christmas that holds me, remakes me, revives me. I want a Christmas that whispers Jesus.”

Another book is Ann Voskamp’s Unwrapping the Greatest Gift: A Family Celebration of Christmas.
 This is the book I went through last Christmas:

 This year, I’ve decided to read through Daybreaks: Daily Reflections for Advent and Christmas by Paula D’Arcy. She wrote the most meaningful little prayer book on grief, that has helped me immensely this past year and I can’t wait to dig into the words she has to share about Advent and Christmas.

How do you keep the story of Christmas, and the reason for our celebration at Christmas, alive?