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Welcome to our 5 part series Cozy Christmas Connections, where I’ll be looking at 10 fun family ideas for Christmas each week, and how to make this festive season the most bonding  for you and your family. I hope you get some inspiration from these ideas, and that implementing them bonds your family closer together!

It’s that time of year when festive stuff hits the malls, you hum along to carols while shopping & that exciting itch to begin decorating, baking and crafting sets in!

This week, I share 10 of my favorite ideas (mostly from Pinterest, my personal faves I do with my family, as well as ideas I’ve gleamed from friends.) I hope you find some inspiration for this Christmas season, from them!

I think, being Christian, that one of the more important messages to teach children at Christmas time, is the real reason behind all the good cheer.. Jesus and his birth, and what that means 🙂 Here are my fave ways to do this… Some I do already, and some I will definitely give a shot this year! Happy teaching & bonding, moms!

10 Ways To Keep The Meaning Of Christmas In Mind

A Wooden Craft for your front door

I like this one a lot; a beautiful reminder of the real reason for Christmas celebrations,  for each time you enter or exit your home. This would be a nice thing to make and relatively easy.

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Baking fun – baby Jesus mini breads

A sweet thing to bake, while talking to your children about it’s meaning; perhaps in place of your usual biscuits..? Easy to make with normal, sweetened bread dough 🙂

Photo from littleforesthandmade.blogspot.com

Salt dough nativity fun

This is pretty cute, and a fun craft to make and paint! It can be stuck on the fridge, or in your child’s room, or converted into a Christmas tree ornament, just add string while still soft! The one below can be bought on Etsy, but is also fun and simple to make yourself:

Quick Salt Dough Recipe:

1/2 cup salt

1/2 cup water

1 cup flour

Instructions:

Add the salt and flour together in a bowl, and add the water in a bit at a time, mixing altogether. The dough is good when it’s dryish but not sticky. If sticky, add a bit more flour. Knead the dough, roll out and cut out your shapes. Dry your nativity characters in a low heat oven for 3 hours, or pop them in the microwave for 3 minutes, and then 20 seconds at a time thereafter until perfect. Once cooled, paint them 🙂

by LittleChirpDesigns on Etsy

 Work through a fun activity Christmas-themed book together

This book looks like great fun; full of crafty things to do with your kids, as well as lots of mazes, dot-to-dots and lots more. Picking one activity or game a day would be a great way to speak to your children of the meaning of Christmas! There’s an awesome Build-your-own nativity project in there too!

Jesus is Born Christmas Activity Book & Coloring Pages

Christmas mugs

A fun ‘take out for Christmas’ idea – We use a Christmas teddy bear in our family, but this mug is awesome too! You can find it online for $10 at Cokesbury

A great way to keep the ‘reason for the season’ in your mind every morning with your cuppa 🙂 If you’re feeling creative, you could paint your own mugs with your own special reminders of the season’s reason..

Advent calendar Christmas stockings

This one is one of my favorites, which I will be making this year. Each stocking has 24 little pockets to hide treasures in, and each treasure has a scripture/meaning allocated to it. Great for opening up conversations with your children about Christmas! Love it!

You can find the scriptures and treasures at FHElessons.wordpress.com

A Printable Advent Storybook

This is a nice one! A story a day as your family counts down to Christmas next month. Worth a try, I think! You can make something similar with your children – perhaps a page a day in November, for December.

You can find this on Etsy @ dwellart

 Crochet nativity

This is absolutely the cutest thing ever! If I could crochet, I’d do this! Also found on etsy if you prefer to buy it.

Birth of Jesus Book & Cards for Toddlers

This is great for those of us with littlies. The Christmas story in card form. I’m definitely printing this, how cute! If laminated, it can be reused each year.  Find it at Bible Fun For Kids

Candy Cane Craft

This is a cute idea for toddlers! You can use straw, paint or material; get creative! 🙂

Found on Catholic Icing

I hope you have great, bonding fun with your children/ family as you try out some of these, or use them. In all the busyness this season, let’s remind ourselves and our little ones of the real reason for the season: Jesus and what his birth means for us! Join us next week in this series as we look at 10 Bonding Family Traditions for Christmas Day.

If you have any fun crafty things you love doing as a family, we’d love for you to share them with us! What do you do to celebrate Jesus this festive season?

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