This. month is my favorite all year. We look forward to our family traditions and the extra things we do to celebrate the seasons. In a time when I’m already adding a couple “extras” to our days and our calendar is bubbling over FULL I am intentionally leaving our morning basket time minimal. This month we will use @Wilkinsonnest ‘s Christmas With Tales guide, the hymn of the month from @happyhymnody, a couple gingerbread activities from my Learn + PLAY set, and A Jesus Christmas by Barbara Reaoch.
One of my favorite things we do each December is our prayer cards! This is the most simple but the sweetest way to point my littles back to Jesus and encourage them to consider others. We LOVE getting photo Christmas cards in the mail. I get so excited seeing beautiful pictures of our friends, hearing life updates, or about adventures that family and close friends have gone on. Instead of hanging up our Christmas cards I punch a hole in a top corner of the card and add it to a binder clip. Then every morning we go through our cards to thank the Lord for our family and friends. Then we think through specific ways we can pray for one of the families on the ring.
Hymn study has definitely been a highlight all year! I have absolutely loved following along with @happyhymnody ‘s guides each month.
My friend Lisa wrote the Year of Tales preschool curriculum and as a companion she created the Christmas With Tales guide perfect for a December morning basket or even a full curriculum for your littles. We love her focus on character and scripture, simple activities, and ideas for making the month meaningful.
We’ve been using the Star from Afar nativity set as a special activity each morning too! The children hunt for the hidden star when they wake up. Who ever discovers it gets a small prize and places it back up over the nativity set in our dining room.
A Jesus Christmas by Barbara Reaoch is a new resource for us this year and we have really enjoyed it. It’s the perfect amount of interaction and reading. My 4 year old loves the journaling sections to add her illustrations. It’s a beautiful guide leading families from the Garden to Bethlehem.
Naturally I include a couple of my Gingerbread learning activities for my littles to strew with as I read.
We don’t typically do all these activities in one day. We pick and choose for what suits our schedule but having the basket together and ready makes getting intentional with family time so much easier! Though this list is small it’s the perfect amount to maintain a meaningful time together each morning. Have an idea to share or feeling inspired by our basket, be sure to comment below! I love hearing from you!
Carla Snipes
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