Gifts of Togetherness, from Simply on Purpose - Family Christmas Activities

 I've been decluttering my inbox this month, unsubscribing from all the junk emails that have appeared. Amongst the endless clutter was an email from Ralphie at Simply on Purpose, with a family Christmas activity, Gifts of Togetherness. I'm always looking for ways to make the Christmas season more meaningful, and I'm excited to have a selection of family activities ready to go! No thinking on my part!

With the intention of making this a holiday tradition, we printed AND laminated the cards, and the kids helped me cut them out. We'll keep them on the table and decorate our manger background with them as we complete the tasks during the holiday season! (This link also includes two non-religious backdrops; Santa and a Christmas tree, which you can print out!)

Christmas Manger Background

Sample Activities

We're only a couple days into the Christmas season, but we've already been able to add five activities to our manger scene!

• Read Christmas Books: Some household favorites are "Can You See What I See? The Night Before Christmas", "Little Blue Truck's Christmas", and "Pete the Cat's 12 Groovy Days of Christmas". The rest of our collection has been from my mom's house or thrift stores.
• Make Gingerbread Houses: Some years we make "gingerbread houses" from graham crackers, but this year we did an official kit, as a babysitting activity while Brandon and I went on a date.
• Make Christmas Decorations: Totally counting this Gifts of Togetherness project as our new homemade decorations for the year!
• Donate to the Needy: We had bags of donations sitting on our front porch, but I just never went to drop them off! Seeing this card, we made it a fun kid adventure.
• Decorate the Tree: The Christmas decorations went on the tree the day after Thanksgiving (the tree was up for the month of November, but as our Thankful Tree).

Looking forward to more family fun time, like watching a Christmas classic, having a snowball fight (living in Florida, we'll need to be creative), having a sleepover by the tree, and completing a holiday puzzle! What are you looking forward to doing this Christmas season?