Bring the Christmas story to life
with a progressive nativity scene.
The manger scene is a popular deco-ration,
but this symbol of the season
can get lost among all the other
trimmings. Renew your appreciation
of Jesus’s birth story by setting your
nativity scene out in stages, reading
the correlating part of the Christmas
story as you go.
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Bake special treats from scratch. Whether an old family recipe or a new pastry you’ve been
seeing all over Pinterest, it’s rewarding to slow down, put on some music, and create something
delicious to share. Coordinate a recipe exchange to connect with loved ones while adding new
delicacies to your repertoire.
Make or buy an Advent calendar
to count down the days until
Christmas. Mark each day by
hanging an ornament, eating a
piece of chocolate, reading a short
verse, or just pausing for a minute
to reflect. Taking a few moments
to observe the arrival of a new day
can help you savor the season and
counteract that feeling of time
blurring together.
Enjoy Christmas concerts from home. Although live concert events have
been canceled this year, you can still celebrate the season online with some
of the area’s best musicians. In lieu of their annual Music on Market concert
series, St. Andrews-Covenant Presbyterian Church will present “Musical
Advent Moments” live on Facebook every Wednesday morning, and the
recordings will remain on their Facebook page. A recording of last year’s
Christmas concert at First Baptist Church will be aired on local television.
Connect with your loved ones by sending
handwritten cards. Make a list of friends
and family you would usually see around
the holidays. Make sure your list is manage-able;
you don’t have to send cards to
everyone. Take a few minutes each day to
write notes, or make a family event of it and
spend an evening writing cards together.
Decorate as little or as much as you want. Put out the
ornaments you love, whether that’s one small box or half
the contents of your garage. Let the kids decorate their
space however they want, too. Mismatched tablecloths
and an excessive number of construction paper snow-flakes?
Sure, why not?
Christmas is going to be different, but different doesn’t have to be bad. Pick the
best of your longstanding traditions, choose some new and meaningful ones, and embrace the
season with a simple celebration this year.
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