25 Christ-Centered Christmas Activities

I love Christmas! It is such an amazing time of year. I mainly love it because of the fun traditions, the spirit of remembering and celebrating Jesus Christ, and the time I get to spend with loved ones. Almost all of my favorite Christmas memories and traditions have to do with celebrating Christ. Here are 25 Christ-centered Christmas Activities I hope you are able to enjoy with your loved ones.

1. Make snow-angels in the snow with children and talk about the angels who prophesied of Christ and the angels who notified the shepherds of Christ’s birth.
2. Throughout the month of December, read different Christmas stories together. Some of my favorites are: The Tale of Three Trees, The Forgotten Carols, A Wish to be a Christmas Tree, Christmas Oranges, A Christmas Carol, and of course the Nativity story from the Bible.
3. Make or decorate an edible ginger bread Nativity.
4. Decorate your home for Christmas using Christ-centered decor.
5. Take part in the #LIGHTtheWORLD challenge—for 25 days you are given 25 ways you can try to be more like Christ. There is a pre-made calendar of each day with ideas as well as short video clips. You can subscribe to have them emailed or view them online. Each day the challenge is to do something that Christ did in his life: feed the hungry, visit the sick, honor parents, etc. I am so excited to take part in this challenge this Christmas! Check it out and join the #LIGHTtheWORLD challenge here. 
   

   

6. Go caroling and sing songs of Christ’s birth to neighbors.
7. Set up an outdoor Nativity scene around your home.
8. Act out the Christmas Nativity. My family acts out the nativity each year. I provide the scripts, songs, and costume list for the Nativity play my family puts on here (it’s free).
   
9. Listen to religious Christmas Songs. Pandora has many great stations. Mannheim Steamroller and Michael Buble’s Christmas stations are two of my favorites.
10. Plan to make Christmas Crafts together. A few I’ve made can be found here, here and here.
    
11. Color out of a Christmas Nativity coloring books (like these) together and teach the Christmas story at the same time.
12. Make sugar cookies together using Nativity cookie cutters.
13. Give the 12 Days of Christmas to a recipient. Find a 12-piece nativity set (like these) and give a different piece each night. There are other Christ-centered gift ideas for the 12 Days of Christmas in this post here.
    
14. 25 Days of Christ Countdown Ornaments – Gather your family each night in December to study the life and teachings of Jesus Christ as you countdown to Christmas. Children of all ages will love and remember these scripture stories as they place a symbolic ornament on your tree after each night’s reading. The Jesse Tree Brick Challenge is fun yet slightly different way to do this Christ-centered ornament tradition. Read the scripture for the day. Discuss how the story points to Jesus and discuss the symbol and how it relates to the story. Hang the ornament on the tree.
15. Attend a Christmas concert such as Handel’s Messiah (my favorite).
16. Visit a life-size Nativity. There are many large nativities located at large community or church buildings and/or there are many located on LDS Temple grounds. You may be able to find a local one here.
17. Read The Jesus Storybook Bible. There are twenty-one stories in this activity from the Old Testament—each ending with a paragraph that ties in to the imminent birth of Jesus—and then three stories from the New Testament leading up to (and surrounding) the birth story of Jesus.
18. Names of Christ Advent Gifts. In this activity, there are 24 scriptures to read in December. Each one talks about a different name of Christ. There are coordinating gifts to go with the scriptures to use for advent!
19. Write a letter to Jesus as a gift for his birth. Put the letter inside of a balloon filled with helium and let it go up to heaven.
20. Have a Christmas movie night with your family. A few of my favorites Joyeux Noel, A Christmas Carol, It’s a Wonderful Life. Many Hallmark Christmas shows are also Christ centered.
21. Celebrate Christ at Christmas with Acts of Giving. Make cookies for service workers; fire stations, police departments, nurses (people that work on holidays and serve our community).
22. Deliver Christ-centered neighbor gifts (a few ideas here).
    
23. Attend a Christmas production like The Forgotten Carols by Michael McLean.
24. Attend a local charity event such as the Festival of Trees or any other Christmas-based fundraiser.
25. Keep thoughts of Christ in your mind and heart.

I hope you are able to take part in some of these activities and enjoy this season of celebrating our Savior’s birth!

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