spt challenge is to take a few moments and focus on that special holiday *thing* that you are planning for this year
My favorite Holiday tradition that we do is the 12 days of Christmas for a family each year. We buy a nativity set and individually wrap each piece and drop them off each night the 12 days before Christmas. It is very simple and there is nothing to make or notes to write. We have had some awesome experiences doing this. The last piece we give is the baby Jesus. We usually try to find some special way to give it to this family. Last year I had someone sneak it under the families Christmas tree. One year my husband (who dresses up like Santa every Christmas eve and walk down the streets of our neighborhood ringing a bell) went in his Santa suit and sunglasses and hand delivered the piece to the family. Still to this day we don't think they know it was us. We try as hard as we can for them to never know who it is.I LOVE this tradition and it is such a fun thing to do each night leading up to Christmas. We have been thinking and praying about what family we will do this year. We try to pick someone who we feel needs an extra pick me up that year. We live too far to do anyone downtown which makes me sad because it would be so fun to do down there.
If you want to pick up one new tradition this year.... this is a great one to think about!
My Nativity buying tips.
I just bought my set for this year at Kohls yesterday. They are always half off and I got it for $12.99. Nativity sets seem harder to find these days. The best places to find them are at a store like Kohls, J.C. Penny, Sears. Nativity set from Kohls
Two of my other favorite nativity sets are:
Playmobil
Fisher Price
28 comments:
What a fun and easy idea. I have wanted to do a 12 days of Christmas for someone and this is a great easy way that isn't too expensive or time consuming. Thanks for the great idea- I love it!
My mom gets them from Hallmark, but they might be pretty expensive. We have the Playmobile and the Fisher Price one and they are both awesome for families with little kids because the pieces can't really be broken.
I love this tradition of yours and think it's such a cool idea.
I love this too. I will be gone this year but I want to do this next year. I thought of an idea for you. Our primary gave each of the children a little teeny tiny nativity set one year. It was such a special gift and most of your kids probably don't have one at home. I wish I knew where they got them from.
I love this idea. My family always did the 12 days of Christmas, but it is very time-intensive and can get expensive too. Your way leaves the focus on what's important! I may have to check at Kohl's...
I love this tradition of yours. The older I get and the older my kids get, the more I want to focus on Christ and the real reason we even have the holiday. Thanks for the reminder of such a great tradition!
This is such a fantastic tradition! I may just have to adopt it myself.
That is one of the very best traditions that I have ever heard of!!
I think I might just adopt the tradition this year. It's pretty cool. I'm glad to know Kohls carries them.
this is a great tradition, that i'm sure you're whole family enjoys doing together
Great idea Kristi - I just saw one at KidKraft, it's and advent calender/nativity set. Counting the days up to christmas you put one of the nativity figures up on a peg-like board, it's made of wood and shaped like the nativity barn. Really cute! Now to locate it for myself :)
I love this idea! Thanks for reminding me about it. I better head to Kohl's, since I know exactly who my family would like to do something special for! Thanks Kristi!
Thank you for such a great idea!
love, love, love the idea. and i have a family already picked out in my mind. off to kohl's i go!
I see so many Nativity sets around and can never decide which style is my favourite! Living ones are always fabby though!
We've got a BIG emphasis this year at our church on Advent and we'll also be looking at the biblical connections to the '12 Days of Christmas' song.
It must be lovely to buy a nativity set each year and just give it awaaaay...!
COSTCO has the best nativity & at a great price. It is very detailed.
Our Stake does a nativity display & we get thousands of people to bring in theirs. It's also open to the public & is such a great tradition. It really helps set the tone of Christmas.
I absolutly love this idea. I always try to come up with some cute ryhmes and goodies for 12 days and no more of that!! I love this thank you for sharing. I am so sad cause my sister saw those fisher price nativities at walmart today for 21$. Soo cheap. WHen she called to tell me about it I was practically yelling at her to go back to get one for her and me . WHen she did they were all gone. So very sad.
I love all of your ideas for the baby gifts and the teacher ideas. I need to remember those when it is teacher appreciation week and i need 5 gifts for 4 teachers!
Kristi! I FINALLY figured out how to post a comment. But if I ask a question, how do I get a reply? Okay, I am so lame and SO new to this blogging thing. Although I am becoming addicted!!!
I want to get the nativity at Kohl's. Here is my lame-o question... what if there aren't 12pieces? What do you do for the extra days? I am not as creative as you to actually come up with something so I am wondering what you do...
I just have to say that whenever I am in need of an idea, I just come to your site. And crazy thing is, so does my neighbor and neither of us knew the other did until just recently. (but I am the only one who actually knows you personally -lucky me) You are oh, so famous!!!!
xoxo
What a beautiful tradition!
KM - that is such a great question and i meant to say that on there.
because you are no writing anything on the package, like "the first day of Christmas" or such you just count the pieces and then count back that many days to when you start dropping them off.
So my set has 11 pieces including the wooden base. On day one we give the angel every year. but keep in mind we don't have any note or anything on the piece. On day two we give the wooden base wrapped up in ribbon. then we go through the nativity with the last pieces being Joseph, Mary, the bed and then the last day Jesus. That will make 12 days.
But if you had a nativity set that only had 6 pieces you could just start 6 days before Christmas and drop off each piece. I really don't think it matters to be exactly 12 days, because to me what makes it so beautiful is the simplicity of small piece of the nativity showing up on your door step each night, with no fluff.
I use clear celophane bags to put them in and then tie a huge gold ribbon at the top. A roll of ribbon from Costco will do the trick for all of them and it is only about $7.00.
One year I bought burlap and wrapped each piece in burlap and tied it with rope and that seemed to work great too.
the key is to keep it simple so that the beauty of the project does not become overwhelming and every night you enjoy dropping them off. it is seriously my favorite thing to do each year. i hope this helps.
Wonderful! I have been wanting to do the 12 days of Christmas for a few fmilies. This was an answer for me.
i love all your darling nativity collections! so fun!
I love this tradition that you shared and wanted to do it last year but it was too late. Thanks for the reminder. Honestly - I had no idea that you could get such amazing nativities at Kohls for such a great price!
I will have to add that to my list of errands tomorrow!
Oh! I SO adore this idea! I just love holiday traditions, especially at Christmas. We always did the 12 days of Christmas for a family in need growing up and have continued the tradition with our own kdis. I love this spin on it, thanks for the great idea and a new tradition addition for our family this year. A great way to keep the real meaning of Christmas.
We loved it the year that you did this for us. Brenna looked forward to it each night. Thanks again for doing it.
Those are two of my favorite nativity sets too...they both remind me of Christmas in Nashville.
love this tradition! and thanks for reminding me about the little people nativity...i wanted to get it last year and completely forgot about it!
love it! we're totally doing it this year!!
ohhh kristi i love playmobile stuff...for anything..i think if i could be a kid again, those would be my only toys
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