12 days of Christmas {Day 12: A Christmas Devotional for Families}

Merry Christmas!

I hope you’ll enjoy this video of my favorite Christmas song of all time, by one of my favorite singers of all time.

Also, my husband adapted a devotional for your family to work thorugh this morning if you are not going to a church service this morning (or even if you are.) Have a beautiful day celebrating our Christ’s birth!

Christmas Morning Family Devotional*

Take a minute and think back to last Christmas. Was there a time when you looked at a box sitting under a Christmas tree and only wanted to know one thing: What is in there? You knew it was for you but also knew you couldn’t open it. Now think about the joy of finally opening, seeing, touching and holding the unwrapped gift. What was your favorite gift last year and why?

This is what the story of Jesus is like in the Bible. The Old Testament promises that the greatest gift ever, the Savior, would come. Last week we talked about some of the things God said about the promised Savior through the prophets. While He revealed some things about what the Savior would be like, God didn’t tell everything. He faithfully kept His promise by sending His own Son, Jesus, into the world. He has come, and we now know about Him – about His life, His death and His resurrection – and how He came into the world to save sinners. When we hold this gift, we hold eternal life.

As a family, spend time with God. Read John 1:1-5 and talk about the following questions.

1. Whom is this passage talking about? What do we learn about Jesus from it?

2. Remember how the Savior was described in Isaiah 9:2. How does this passage show Jesus as the fulfillment of that prophecy?

3. How and why is Jesus the greatest gift ever?

Close your time by praying as a family, thanking God for sending Jesus, the greatest gift we will receive today as we celebrate Christmas.

Family Activity Ideas-

· Make ornaments together to hang on the tree that remind us of what God showed us He was like in Jesus. (ie: love, joy, light peace, etc…)

· Assemble a nativity scene together and let everyone (kids especially) tell as much as they can remember of the 1^st Christmas story.

· Make place mats together for the Christmas meal today. Let everyone write words or draw pictures on their own place mat to tell what Christmas means to them. (kids may draw a picture of the manger, adults may write verses, etc…)

*Borrowed and adapted from http://www.thevillagechurch.net/– “Advent Guide”

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