Start a New Tradition & Remember The Reason for Christmas & Resurrection Sunday

 

Today I want to share with you an idea for something you could use to start a family tradition, help you focus the children you love both on why we celebrate Christmas as well as why Jesus came, and provides the opportunity for them to give to others . . . you will need the following items . . .

• Paper lunch bag - one per person
• "Pinch" wooden clothespins - two per person, but have more ready if they would like to make more.
• Permanent ink markers - lots of colors and metallic if you are able to find them.
• Write or print out John 3:14-17 on a card - one per bag - "Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, that everyone who believes may have eternal life in Him. For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through Him."

Talk with your grandchildren about why Jesus came - He came as a baby to grow, live as a person, and then die for our sins, so we could go to Heaven. Talk about how Christmas and Resurrection Sunday are connected - if Jesus did not come, live, die for us, and rise again, we would not have eternal life. 

Then have them open their bags and set out the supplies. Show them how to draw a star and baby Jesus on one side of their clothespins (look at the design I found on the center slat as a possible look for this project) and a cross on the other side. As they decorate their clothespins, talk with them more about how Christmas and Resurrection Sunday are connected.

When they finish their clothespins, talk about the tradition some families have of hiding a little elf each day leading up to Christmas. Explain how you would like to start a new tradition of moving the Baby Jesus closer to their tree each day leading up to Christmas. Take a minute to hide their clothespins, then let them go find them. When they find their clothespin Baby Jesus/cross, let them share a reason they are thankful Jesus came as a baby and went to the cross for them.

Ask their parents to do this with them each of the remaining days with Christmas Eve being the day they clip their clothespin Jesus/cross into their tree where they stay until they take their tree down.

Ask them to think of a friend, neighbor, teacher, etc to whom they will give their second clothespin Baby Jesus/cross with the card. 

(This is a project you could send to grandchildren who live far and lead them through it over the phone.)

#grandmas #handingdownconfidentfaith #itmatterswhatwedo#grandparentingonpurpose