Faithful Families for Advent and Christmas: 100 Ways to Make the Season Sacred

by Traci Smith

From the bestselling author of Faithful Families: Creating Sacred Moments at Home, this new book of Advent and Christmas practices provides 100 easy ideas to make the season sacred.


In the hustle and bustle of the holidays, it's easy for families to forget the true meaning of the season. In this new book of faith practices for Advent, Christmas, and Epiphany, parents, grandparents, Sunday school teachers, pastors, and anyone who cares about kids will find easy, fun, and meaningful ideas for bringing the sacred back into the season.


The book includes prayers, practices, and stories, grouped by different themes of the Advent and Christmas season, from Decorating, to Family Time, to Giving, to Telling the Story, and more. Practices include: Making an Advent Wreath, Christmas Card prayers, Hot Chocolate Gratitude Party, Year Round Christmas Gift, Silent Night Star Walk, Birthday Party for Jesus, Leaving Hay for Camels, Memory Box for the Year to Come, and many, many more!

Genres: Religion, Spirituality, Parenting, Christianity

128 pages, Paperback

Published August 18, 2020

Reviews

[Glenys Nellist · Rating 5 out of 5]

The beautiful thing about 'Faithful Families for Advent and Christmas' is that even though a plethora of wonderful practices are presented, author Traci Smith does not overwhelm families, but instead manages to encourage them to celebrate sacred moments and find together the true meaning of this holy season. This book truly is a treasure.

[Courtney · Rating 5 out of 5]

In this compaion to Faithful Families: Creating Sacred Moments at Home, pastor and mom Traci Smith provides families with a cornucopia of prayers, activities, and ways to incorporate faith in the Christmas celebrations. There is an excellent section of very short devotional reflections that are easy to pick and choose (rather than the pressure of getting daily more behind in a traditional family Advent devotional). Another excellent feature is prayers to accompany many different seasonal activities, such as putting up the Christmas tree (and taking it down!), wrapping presents, saying goodbye to family, etc. There are activity ideas for Advent, the twelve days of Christmas, Ephiphany, and the end of the season. My favorite ideas in this book were the prayers for tree decorating and New Year's.

Don't skip the introduction! Smith encourages parents to be "gentle when things don't go perfectly," to find rest, and to intentionally decide what to let go and what to emphasize. Her advice is wonderful in general and in applying the ideas in the book.

[Ashley · Rating 4 out of 5]

This works really well as a catalogue of Advent activities by type and position in the Advent season. Each activity is a simple way for families to reflect together and spend time together, rather than just opening gifts. If you're looking for a more meaningful way to connect with family members over the Advent season, I would recommend it. Keep in mind, there are more activities than you can possibly complete in one season and different activities work better for different age groups. I suggest previewing the book in its entirety before using it.

[Rebecca H Jones · Rating 5 out of 5]

Traci Smith’s Faithful Families for Advent and Christmas equips families with simple practices to make holy moments and deep meaning out of intentionality throughout the season. Every family will find many new and treasured ideas to shape their advent and Christmas traditions with meaning for years to come. Children’s Ministry leaders can resource their families with seasonal prayers, devotions, activities and sacred moments in this excellent all-in-one resource.

[Elijah · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was ok. It felt a little forced at times with the activities provided. And there were admittedly (from the author) times she reused activities from previous manifestations of this work.

Yet, overall it was a fine resource with plenty of ways to help engage our youth at church and their families. We greatly appreciated the authors permission to share up to 4 activities in our Sunday bulletin.

[Kristen · Rating 4 out of 5]

I appreciate the practical, tangible ideas in this book. I deeply appreciated the way the author opened the book by stressing that not all these ideas will work for your family, don’t do too much, some things won’t work etc. I was just the grace filled source of inspiration I needed this year.

[Daniel Harding · Rating 5 out of 5]

Tons of simple information. Insightful and helpful while not being too overbearing. A great gift and guide for families and churches looking to learn, settle, and build new traditions as we celebrate Christmas.

[Alexa · Rating 5 out of 5]

A really great and concise book with ideas, stories, and prayers for the Christmas season. Something you can return to over and over for new things to try. Also a great reminder of how to make the season special with simple activities.

[Rebecca Caswell-Speight · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great ideas for celebrating advent.

We will be purchasing this book for every family in our church as an at home Advent Family at home event.

[Traci Rhoades · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is full of practical ideas to help families observe Advent and Christmas. It's a great series of books that are helpful.

[Ruth · Rating 3 out of 5]

Best idea ever for someone who lives by the to-do list -- Make a not-to-do list for all the things that don't bring you joy this season.

[Allison · Rating 5 out of 5]

A treasure box for families!

[Brooke Lemieux · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really appreciate so many of the ideas in this book for making the season special. Easy to read format and easy to bookmark sections I want to do!

[Val Fisk]

What a wonderful resource this was! Really appreciated all the different activities and sharing them with our church families this Advent.