Religious:
Advent:
a. Advent wreath-- light a candle every Sunday of advent and the christmas candle on Christmas day. Follow the prayers of the Book of Common Prayer for each sunday of advent, or look around for other sources of prayers and readings.
b. Advent calendar: The children get to count each day of Advent. We've never done a chocolate advent calendar but those could be fun in the future.
Christmas Eve/Christmas Day:
This year we went to a Christmas Eve service and Christmas Day. In Uganda the Christmas Day service is the main event, but our campus has scheduled a 5pm service for the expats, mostly. Anyway, this year as we wiped sweat from our brow, our friend Brian Dennison preached the Christmas Eve sermon and the most resounding "carol" was "Feliz Navidad" at the end of the service! After Christmas Eve service, we went home for dinner and opening on gift. In future, I hope we'll be reading "The Best Christmas Pageant Ever" on Dec 23rd and 24th as both Mark and I grew up doing that and its a very warm-hearted kid-friendly way to remind us of the meaning of Christmas.
Christmas Day, the campus also had a service that was fairly low in numbers (many people go home to their villages for Christmas). However the numbers in Sunday school were plenty. We had one of those funny things happen where some kind church goer at home sends gifts for children in Africa, and our kids come home with baggies of goods from Oriental Trading company. Like last year when our children got gifts from Samaratin's Purse "shoebox" efforts. Yikes, should we write the thank you note to this kid in America from a middle class American child who lives in Uganda?
Before church, we opened our stockings and one bigger present and after church we opened the remaining gifts.
In Uganda, New Years Day is a big deal and they have a service. To be specific they have an "all-night" service from 10pm New Years Eve to 8am New Years Day. Dorothy was telling Rachel about it. Rachel said, "I could not do church for 12 hours." I said in my heart, "amen, sister." But, the tradition of all nighters works here and I can only applaud them from afar. :)
I'm sliding into some "cultural observations".... Basically I think New Years is a huge day (more so than even birthdays. I think it is the time of year all Ugandans observe that we've survived another year. It is funny but every Sunday during Sunday school, the children have a time of prayer requests and testimony. Child after child goes up the microphone and says, "thank you to God that I'm alive". It is one of those more stark cultural realities that I never really get over. Almost all Ugandans express daily gratitude that they are alive this day-- "give us today our daily bread" in a very real way. What a thing we take for granted, but also what a fundamental part of our consciousness that is so different-- both when it comes to gratitude and daily trust in God but also when you think of the rational implications that result from counting on being alive for each day at a time.
Future religious traditions:
1. St. Nicholas Day-- candy in shoes? Thinking of others in need?
2. 12 Days of Christmas: Saw some things about this last year but I feel like there may be a way to keep Advent a bit more somber and reflective if I know we can make the 12 days of Christmas more celebratory (again, maybe coming up with ways to do fun activities for the 12 days, maybe thinking of ways to do generosity, sorting and preparing for the new year, etc... )
3. Epiphany--The wise men bring gifts to Jesus-- is there a good way to tie the "gifts" part of Christmas to the story of the wise men.
Basically, I feel I have some Advent traditions in mind, some Christmas Eve and Christmas day things in mind but then things start to go down hill quickly! So, we'll see if that develops in the future!
Advent:
a. Advent wreath-- light a candle every Sunday of advent and the christmas candle on Christmas day. Follow the prayers of the Book of Common Prayer for each sunday of advent, or look around for other sources of prayers and readings.
b. Advent calendar: The children get to count each day of Advent. We've never done a chocolate advent calendar but those could be fun in the future.
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| My grandmother made this Advent calendar |
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| Mark gave me this one for Christmas--picked out by me in Nairobi from a "beyond fair trade" company (cheaper for me since I was there, but its a project worth supporting) http://www.amaniafrica.org/product-category/christmas-2 |
c. This year we did this activity because the girls love this bible. Could be good for anyone out there with younger kids. http://adrielbooker.com/advent-jesus-storybook-bible/
d. I have visions of taking the level of content up some levels every year as the kids get older as it is such a meaningful time of year and with the "carrot" of Christmas, I think kids are ready to be pretty engaged in the process of Advent.
Christmas Eve/Christmas Day:
This year we went to a Christmas Eve service and Christmas Day. In Uganda the Christmas Day service is the main event, but our campus has scheduled a 5pm service for the expats, mostly. Anyway, this year as we wiped sweat from our brow, our friend Brian Dennison preached the Christmas Eve sermon and the most resounding "carol" was "Feliz Navidad" at the end of the service! After Christmas Eve service, we went home for dinner and opening on gift. In future, I hope we'll be reading "The Best Christmas Pageant Ever" on Dec 23rd and 24th as both Mark and I grew up doing that and its a very warm-hearted kid-friendly way to remind us of the meaning of Christmas.
Christmas Day, the campus also had a service that was fairly low in numbers (many people go home to their villages for Christmas). However the numbers in Sunday school were plenty. We had one of those funny things happen where some kind church goer at home sends gifts for children in Africa, and our kids come home with baggies of goods from Oriental Trading company. Like last year when our children got gifts from Samaratin's Purse "shoebox" efforts. Yikes, should we write the thank you note to this kid in America from a middle class American child who lives in Uganda?
Before church, we opened our stockings and one bigger present and after church we opened the remaining gifts.
 |
| Daniel and Mary got legos-- legos are a real classic, glad they are making a come back even if there is a marketing component to the whole gig. |
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| Post-church presents-- photo to show that the cat has made it indoors! |
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| Rachel always wants to wear my classes--now she has her own--bought for $1.50 from a street vendor. Score. |
I'm sliding into some "cultural observations".... Basically I think New Years is a huge day (more so than even birthdays. I think it is the time of year all Ugandans observe that we've survived another year. It is funny but every Sunday during Sunday school, the children have a time of prayer requests and testimony. Child after child goes up the microphone and says, "thank you to God that I'm alive". It is one of those more stark cultural realities that I never really get over. Almost all Ugandans express daily gratitude that they are alive this day-- "give us today our daily bread" in a very real way. What a thing we take for granted, but also what a fundamental part of our consciousness that is so different-- both when it comes to gratitude and daily trust in God but also when you think of the rational implications that result from counting on being alive for each day at a time.
Future religious traditions:
1. St. Nicholas Day-- candy in shoes? Thinking of others in need?
2. 12 Days of Christmas: Saw some things about this last year but I feel like there may be a way to keep Advent a bit more somber and reflective if I know we can make the 12 days of Christmas more celebratory (again, maybe coming up with ways to do fun activities for the 12 days, maybe thinking of ways to do generosity, sorting and preparing for the new year, etc... )
3. Epiphany--The wise men bring gifts to Jesus-- is there a good way to tie the "gifts" part of Christmas to the story of the wise men.
Basically, I feel I have some Advent traditions in mind, some Christmas Eve and Christmas day things in mind but then things start to go down hill quickly! So, we'll see if that develops in the future!
I also hope to add The Best Christmas Pageant Ever to our family Christmas traditions--it is such a great story.
ReplyDeleteWe've known families who open 1 present a day during the 12 Days of Christmas. It's a good idea but would never fly with our kids. We do save one for Epiphany, though.