Favorite Family Tradition from Carisa of 1+1+1=1

 

Note from Jenae:  Throughout the month of December, I’ll be sharing posts by several of my favorite bloggers about their favorite family traditions surrounding Christmas. I firmly believe that traditions help shape our children’s memories of their childhood and draw us closer together as a family. I hope you enjoy reading them as much as I have!

“Celebrations are the ritualized interruptions in the continuum of daily life which remind us who we are, where we came from and where we are going.” -Milo Shannon-Thornberry

 

Tradition shared by Carisa of 1+1+1=1

When asked to share about a Christmas tradition, I honestly had to think for awhile. There are many things we do, or have done, but not too many that I would say fall into the year after year tradition category. After a few minutes, the most consistent Christmas tradition we have popped into my head and brought a smile to my face.

For the past few years, we have poured over the World Vision Gift Catalog during the month of December, carefully selecting what gifts we will give in honor of our loved ones as a way of giving to Jesus.

The kids carefully select what gift they think each family member would like us to donate in their honor; a chicken, a goat, fresh water, bed nets, and more. We also choose one of the tangible gifts from the Maximum Impact Fund to give to the family member also, along with a card telling out the donation.

A really cool thing about this tradition, is that it has caught on! Last year my parents gave each of my kids a special gift honoring a donation they made to World Vision! Here is my oldest son reading his card telling him that Nanee and Baba purchased animals in his honor for families in need across the world. They gave him a little stuffed animal to remember the gift given in his honor!

 

It is exciting for me to think that this has become our most solid Christmas tradition and I didn’t even really realize it until I sat and thought about it! Here’s a post I wrote last year about giving gifts to Jesus for CHRISTmas!

 

 

Carisa is a homeschooling mom to 3, an inner city missionary, and a blogger. She shares a behind the scenes look at her homeschool life on 1+1+1=1, you can learn more about her blog and family here. Find her on Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest!