Do You Need a Christmas Reset?

It’s nine days until Christmas. Time to do a little check-in. How are you doing? Are you overjoyed or overwhelmed? Are you energized or exhausted?

To be honest, a few years ago I found myself overwhelmed and exhausted with even the thought of the upcoming Christmas season. My anxiety was through the roof, my emotions hit rock bottom, and the reason for the season got buried under my never-ending to-do list. I needed a Christmas reset. It was time to dig deep and figure out how to CULTIVATE traditions that kept our eyes focused on Jesus and CUT out all distractions.

Thanks to ideas from friends, inspiring blog articles, and lots of prayer and discussion with my husband—we’ve been able to cut many of the things that deterred us away from the true reason for the Christmas season.

One of the things we cultivated is taking time each day to do an Advent devotional. Over the past few years, we have rotated through different Christmas devotionals. Some we read aloud with our kids and some I’ve used for my personal daily quiet time. Below, I highlight a few of our favorites.

Love Came Down at Christmas

Sinclair B. Ferguson

This devotional invites you to slow down and be refreshed by God’s perfect love as you meditate day-by-day through 1 Corinthians 13. This beautifully written devotional blessed me greatly during an especially tough Christmas season. Each of the twenty-four daily reading is 3-5 pages long and ends with a reflection and a prayer.

Fixated

Tim Chester

This is the devotional I’m reading this year. I never would have thought the first three chapters of Hebrews would be the perfect scriptures to reflect on during Christmas, but this devotional has been so powerful for me this Advent season. The overarching theme is “Fixing our eyes on Jesus.” Each day you focus on one or a group of verses and end with a prayer.

Unwrapping the Names of Jesus

Asherita Ciuciu

This devotional blessed my heart so much last year during my quiet time, that I decided to read it daily with my kids this year in place of our usual Christmas devotional. We bought an Advent candle set to enrich our nightly readings as we count down the weeks to Christmas. Each week focuses on the names of Jesus that coincide with the week’s theme of hope, preparation, joy, and love.

Prepare Him Room

Marty Machowski

This hands-on devotional is unique. Each week provides scriptures, crafts, songs, prayers, and activities to help you bring the wonder of Christ’s birth and the Gospel to life. You also read a segment of an original short story entitled “Bartimaeus: A Christmas Story.” This book is perfect for families who love visuals and tactile crafts.

The Advent Jesse Tree

Dean Meador Lambert

This is our longest-standing Christmas tradition. When my oldest was just a baby, I took part in a Jesse Tree ornament exchange. I came home with a complete collection of ornaments that went perfectly with the twenty-five devotionals. These daily devotionals focus on Old Testament and New Testament scriptures that beautifully point us to Christ’s coming. They supplement each devotional with song suggestions, a prayer, and additional scripture readings. Check out Etsy for ornament patterns, printables, or pre-made sets you can purchase. Or, plan your own ornament exchange!

It may be a little late to implement new traditions for this Christmas season, but—if you are feeling like I did—now is the time to make plans for next year. Change is hard, but we had lots of discussions with our kids and extended family to explain why we needed to make these changes. As a result, I’m happier, healthier, and more present during these Advent weeks leading up to Christmas day.

If you have any books or family traditions that would help us keep our eyes fixed on Jesus during the Advent season, please post them below. Let’s learn from one another!