Day 3 of 12 Days of Christmas Giveaways (with Courtney Joseph)
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*Give Away has Ended*
It’s Day 3 of 12 Days of Christmas Giveaways!
If you’re just joining in, be sure to catch up by starting at Day One here.
My guest today is my dear friend, blogger, author, and creator of Good Morning Girls, Courtney Joseph. I am so thrilled she chose to share her clever idea with all of you. Ever since she told me about it a few years back, it has been one of my favorite Christmastime ideas ever! Here’s Courtney…
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As a child I loved driving around and looking at Christmas lights with my family. So when my children were born, we continued this tradition only we added a fun spiritual twist to it. Every Christmas Eve, I prepare the kids for our drive by having them color about 10 coloring pages of the nativity.
After they finish coloring their pictures, I write on their pictures these words:
“Jesus is the reason for the season!
Thank you for displaying your nativity!”
Then we put on our Christmas pajamas, crank up Christmas music, and begin driving around in search of baby Jesus! I wish I could explain how exciting the anticipation is in the car. As each beautiful house passes by, we examine it hard in search of an angel, a star, or any sign of a nativity.
Then it happens! A house with a nativity is spotted and the celebration erupts in the car as we clap and cheer at the sight of our Savior Jesus!
Then we pull over and one of the kids (cautiously and safely) hops out of the car and slips a thank you note into their mail box. Then we continue on in our journey in search of more nativities, until all of our pictures are handed out.
We began this tradition back when my kids were preschoolers and they still love to do this even now as teenagers! The only change we have made is that they no longer are interested in coloring pictures, so now I buy Christmas cards with a picture of the nativity on it and I have them write out the thank you note inside.
If you are looking for a new and meaningful tradition to try out this year, I can’t recommend this highly enough. There are so many spiritual analogies you can talk about while you drive in the car – such as how God wants us to seek him and that when we seek him, we will find him, when we seek him with all of our heart. (Jeremiah 29:13) Or how the Wise Men must have felt when they followed the star that led them to baby Jesus. Or how nothing is as beautiful as the sight of our Savior Jesus and how God delights in the praises of His people.
What is an idea you have done, or have heard about and would like to try, that focuses on the real reason for the season? Let’s celebrate the birth of the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords!
Keep walking with the King,
Courtney
Day 3 Giveaway
Courtney is giving away a copy of her Be Still 3-month Habit Tracker, along her Bible studies on the books of Ecclesiastes and Ruth.
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Courtney Joseph is a graduate of the Moody Bible Institute with a degree in Evangelism and Discipleship. She loves God’s Word and is passionate about helping women to get into it daily. She is blogging through the Bible, one chapter a day, at WomenLivingWell.org , the Home of Good Morning Girls. Courtney has published over 18 Bible Studies, her most recent ones ranking number 1 for Christian Devotionals on Amazon. You can find all of her Bible studies, along with links to her free resources and videos on her blog and you can follow Courtney’s ministry on Facebook, Pinterest, Youtub
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What a great twist! I love it!
We love driving around looking at lights too…we always look for the nativity, but I love the idea of thanking them for displaying it!!!
Love it! Always looking for a way to share gratitude and kindness.
Oh my, that is the best tradition!!! I’m excited to try that with my Church family!!!! Thank you so much for sharing!!
Courtney, I love your idea! I also like the idea of giving each of my kids 3 Christmas presents because the wise men brought 3 gifts to Jesus.
My brother went to Moody Bible Institute and graduated back in 1980. His son Samuel (Sami) is now attending Moody Bible Institute in Chicago, Illinois, and loving it!! Thank you for giving her blog site address on this site, WomenLivingWell.org. I will definitely be checking it out!!
I love this idea! I am going to do it with my kids!
We do a count down to Christmas prayer chain the first advent. I have the strips already cut and we go around asking everyone in the family who or what they want to pray for this Christmas season. We make the chain then take andpray for one link every night.
I play the Christian music station on the radio and I go from a whisper to a sing out loud in praise for the reason of the season.
Love this! We always drive around looking at lights! Thank you for the great idea.
What a great giveaway!
Such a great idea! We always drive around looking at the lights! I love the idea of writing thank you cards.
We go caroling at a local assisted living facility
Serving in a homeless shelter comes to mind .
Driving around to see Christmas lights have always been my favorite and continued work my son. I’m 49 and still enjoy driving around looking at lights.
I LOVE Courtney’s idea & we have done this after we read about this a few years back! Another things we like to do is try to help or show the love of Jesus to others at least once a day.
I love this idea. My parents also used to take us around to look at Christmas lights. We didn’t do the thank you card like Courtney, but what a wonderful thing to do!
My youngest son and I are reading a chapter a day of the book of Luke. This is our first year of doing it. We are learning so much together. I’m hoping to make it a tradition.
One year we all gave to a favorite charity instead of gifts. Christmas Eve we sat around and shared what charity we chose and why.
What a great idea! I can’t wait to do this and thank those with nativity scenes!!
Serving a meal at a soup kitchen
Love this idea and thank you for giving me a chance to win shared on Facebook
I, also, love to drive around looking at lights, but this is a fantastic idea to do with kids. One of my favorite things to do is watch Christmas movies (especially The Nativity) and make things for others
our advent wreath
Oh, the memories of riding around town with mom & dad & siblings ohing & ahing at the beautiful lights and stories in our community’s yards. A walk in Bronson Park through “Candy Cane Lane”, the Human-sized manger scene and our final stop for hot chocolate!
LOVE this idea! I love to watch The Nativity movie on Christmas eve.