Celebrating The Twelve Days of Christmas

Celebrating The Twelve Days of Christmas

by Kerry Beck

There are many beliefs and traditions behind the twelve days
of Christmas. Many people are confused as to when this
holiday period is celebrated. Some people believe that the
holiday consists of the 12 days prior to Christmas (part of
Advent). In fact, it actually consists of the 12 days after
Christmas.

Christmastide is another name for this time period. The
celebrations and traditions that take place during this time
period vary slightly. It depends on the denomination of
your church as well as where you live in the world. Each
denomination and culture has different beliefs on how the
time period should be celebrated.

Some cultures and/or denominations consider the twelve days
of Christmas as the time period that consists of Christmas
day, December 25th all the way to the 5th day of January.
Other cultures and/or denominations consider the 12 days to
be the evening of Christmas until the 6th day of January.

The 12 days of Christmas reflects a major component of the
Christmas history. As we know Christmas day represents the
birth date of Jesus Christ. The 12 days of Christmas
represents the time period in which the 3 Kings from the
region of Arabia decided to visit the baby Jesus. Traveling
from their homeland they traveled to Bethlehem to see the
infant. When they arrived, they presented gifts of great
value, gold, frankincense and myrrh to Jesus.

There are various philosophies of when the appropriate time
to give gifts is during this time period. Many people
identify Christmas day as the appropriate time to give
gifts. Others save their gifts until the 12th day of
Christmas. There are also many cultures and denominations
that believe that a gift should be given each day of the 12
days.

This holiday period has a number of different ways that you
can celebrate it. Many people celebrate it by lighting
candles for the 12 days. For example, on each day of the 12
days, they light a candle to represent the progression of
the Christmastide season.

Another tradition that you can use to celebrate is Christmas
dinner. Like gift giving, Christmas dinner is handled
differently as well. It can be done on Christmas day. It
can be done on the 12th day of Christmas. It can even be
done every day of the 12 days.

Then of course you have the 12 days of Christmas song. This
song is the one where the lyrics are "On the first day of
Christmas my true love gave to me" There are many people
who believe that this song actually refers to different
components of the Christian faith, such as the Trinity and
the 4 Gospels of Christ. Other people believe that this is
false and is simply an urban legend.

The twelve days of Christmas is celebrated all over the
world a wide variety of different ways. Regardless of how
you choose to celebrate it, it can be a great opportunity
for you to gather with your family and draw closer together
in the spirit of the holiday season.

Kerry Beck offers (http://www.christmascelebrationideas.com)
free advent calendars with daily Christmas projects to
prepare your family for Christmas. Your family will discover
more about
(http://www.christmascelebrationideas.com/12days.htm)
holiday traditions with some of the daily projects.

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Less Stress During the Holidays

Less Stress During the Holidays

by Kerry Beck

You might say that I have lost my mind if I said that I have
a stress free Christmas. Well, my sanity is still intact and
we have had several Christmases that were stress-free in the
past. I would like to tell you about the things I've learned
to help reduce the stress during the Yuletide season.

READ GODS WORD EVERY MORNING

Reading Gods Word seems to be the first obvious task every
mom should do, but we sometimes forget that. I need to hear
from Him & talk to Him everyday so I am invigorated to be
the mom that He wants me to be. During mealtime, we do our
family devotions and jumpstart our kids' day on the proper
footing as well. Each of my children know that they are to
read the Bible after waking up. There are times ,of course,
that one of them needs a little more reminding than usual.

DON'T DO EVERY ACTIVITY THAT COMES ALONG

Although evident, it took me a couple of years to learn this
lesson. In reality, my husband helped me lessen the activity
in our lives during the holiday season.

Back then, I wanted the children to experience everything
available during Christmas. Instead, stress and nervousness
crept up and finally would explode around Christmas Eve or
Christmas Day. (I'm positive that none of you have gone
through this before.

WHICH ACTIVITIES DO I SELECT

What works for us is to select 1 or 2 Christmas activities
to go to outside our home. Other than those 2 activities,
most time is spent in our home. This way I'm not harboring
stress by bothering my husband to attend one more Christmas
activity each week. He is still providing for our family and
loving it. Therefore, he is much happier going to a few
activities and enjoying being with family and friends at
home.

Having other people in our home gives us a lot of
satisfaction, so we capitalize on this. With cooking and
cleaning done by the children, our work is lessened and I am
not feeling stressed when our visitors arrive.

ENJOY YOUR HOME

I always more activities for our family than we ever have
time for. In our Thanksgiving weekend I decided which
activities can be postponed until next Christmas season.

REMEMBER: YOU CANT DO EVERY THING, EVERY YEAR.

I try to select activities that help my children to think of
others, instead of themselves during Christmas. What we have
done in the past is raise money for a missionary family. My
kids would take orders for loaves of pumpkin bread and
cookies. After baking and delivering them to their waiting
customers, they would pay me back for the materials used.
The rest of the money is used to buy games and toys that can
be used by the needy.

This year we hope to have some kids over our house to bake
cookies so their moms can do some uninterrupted Christmas
shopping. A Christmas card stamping party for the younger
kids would make a swell activity. I'm still thinking on how
that will work.

I have some other ideas that are included in Advent,
Christmas & Epiphany Celebration Ideas.

LIVEN UP SCHOOL WITH CHRISTMAS

For those of you who homeschool, lessen some of the formal
academics and enjoy these times. As we bake, shop and
prepare for Christs birthday, we are also doing math and
writing and reading with these activities.

At our house, we still read aloud each morning and then work
on a Christmas project. This may include handwork type
crafts or other quiet projects.

FEELING OVERBURDENED DURING THE HOLIDAYS? Pause right now
and rank each activity according to importance. Then, choose
only 1 or 2 activities that the whole family will love and
do the rest another time.

Its a wonderful experience having your family at home.
Invite another over to roast marshmallows and have fun with
the fellowship. And don't forget, keep your eyes and hearts
focused on the Child Jesus. Without His love for mankind,
you won't be celebrating the true meaning of Christmas.

But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while
we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Romans 5:8

For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not
of yourselves, it is the gift of God. Ephesians 2:8

Kerry Beck gives free
(http://www.christmascelebrationideas.com) advent calendars
with daily Christmas activities to prepare you for
Christmas. you will discover more about
(http://www.christmascelebrationideas.com/sharechrist.htm)
Christmas history with some of the daily projects.

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