It has always been important to remember that Christmas isn’t about Santa or receiving presents on Christmas Day, but in recent years, there has been a push from church leadership to find ways to keep Christ the focus of not just Christmas Day, but the entire Christmas season, and our whole life. As President Nelson taught us, “There is nothing more important we can do this Christmas than to rivet our focus on the Savior and on the gift of what His life really means to each of us.” This is a wonderful goal, but it can be hard to implement. Especially with younger kids. Here are just a few ideas that won’t take a lot of time or effort but can have a big impact on your family this Christmas season!
1st. Have a Birthday Party for Jesus
Every Christmas Eve, our family gathers to have a birthday party for Jesus. We make a red velvet cake with green frosting (red and green for Christmas) and sing Happy Birthday to Jesus, and the youngest member of the family blows out the birthday candle. This is how kids are used to celebrating birthdays, so it helps them realize that Christmas really is Jesus’ birthday. Our Birthday Party for Jesus normally includes a Christmas Eve meal and homemade cake, but if that’s a lot, then do it in a way that is sustainable for you. Maybe it means a store-bought cake or a cake from a mix. Maybe it is on Christmas Day rather than Christmas Eve. Or maybe you can take it a step further and have everyone write on a piece of paper a gift that they are going to give Christ for His birthday this year, and put them all in a box under the tree. All of these things depend on your family, the age of your kids, and what aspects you want to prioritize. But having a Birthday Party for Jesus is one of the easiest ways to keep Christ in Christmas when you have little kids.
2nd. Prepare a Manger for Baby Jesus
This is a great one because it can get everyone from adults to children involved! At the beginning of the Christmas season (or at any point really, even just the week before works!), You set out something to be used as a manger, about the size that would fit a newborn or baby doll. This can be an actual wooden manger, or something as simple as a cardboard box that you elevate on some books. Then you explain to all of the kids that we are preparing for the night when Jesus will be born, so for every act of service that someone does, they can add a piece of straw to the manger. Having real straw would be ideal, but you can also use something like shredded paper if that is more realistic for you.
It is crazy how quickly this can catch on with everyone in the house! If you need more structure to it (or if you have older kids with a competitive streak), you can add the element of secret service, where everyone is assigned a person to focus on serving, but they aren’t supposed to get caught until Christmas Eve. That aspect is fun, but definitely not needed. I love this tradition because you just need to gather as a family earlier in the month to start, but then everyone is involved all season long on their own time, so it works even with families that have busy schedules. They can add hay to the manger after a long day being away from home if they’ve done service for anyone, and a bunch of hay if they have done many! It creates a service-oriented mindset to help light the world. It can be small and simple acts, such as opening a door for someone or giving someone a compliment, or even larger acts like shoveling a neighbor’s driveway. The bigger the service, the bigger the piece of hay!
3rd. Give at a Giving Machine
Have you seen those big red vending machines that have been showing up all around the world? The Church has made giving to the poor and needy super convenient while still making it meaningful in a fun and real way. Find the closest giving machine to you by clicking here, and go with your family to give! It’s a great visual because you aren’t just donating money for some arbitrary thing; you decide exactly what you want to give, and the corresponding charity ensures that exact thing is given. Even younger kids can understand what is happening because they see a picture of the item they selected drop down to the bottom. And this doesn’t have to be an expensive outing either. They have a wide range of options, from a pair of socks, a holiday meal or more elaborate options like sessions of therapy or a goat! These range from a few dollars to over a hundred, allowing you to give something meaningful that also fits your budget, no matter its size.
This year, part of our giving was seeds for a hydroponic garden. Since then, my four-year-old asked me questions about those seeds and who got them during bedtime, a week later! I didn’t think it could have an impact on her so young, but it did! You can really help your kids visualize the difference being made by watching some of the videos the church has created about the impact the donations from the giving machines have had in previous years.
4th. Invite Someone New to Your Christmas Celebrations
In the 2025 First Presidency Christmas Devotional, President Jeffrey R. Holland encouraged us to reach out to the lonely and welcome them in. This can be anyone, or for anything, but it does need to include an invitation. It can feel really awkward asking someone you don’t know really well to join your family’s Christmas dinner, but the invitation means way more to that person than you know–even if it is declined!
Be prayerful about who you know that you should reach out to (I highly suggest you review those you minister to). But it can be anyone! You can include the kids in the decision-making, or pick someone you (and your spouse) feel good about. Whoever it is, the key is inviting them to join you for an aspect of Christmas! You can invite them to literally any part of your normal Christmas festivities, whether it is for a gingerbread house (or cookie) decorating night, singing carols, reading the Christmas story, watching a Christmas movie with hot cocoa, a meal, or to be at your home Christmas morning while everyone opens gifts and giving them a little gift of their own. It can even be as simple as inviting them to sit with your family during Church on Christmas Sunday. Basically, any part of your Christmas where you would like to have a stronger presence of the Spirit would be a great place to invite the otherwise lonely to join you. And you may find that the blessings continue as that person becomes an honorary member of your family!
5th. Focus Your Christmas Decor on Christ instead of Santa
I’m not saying you can’t have any Santas, elves, snowmen, or reindeer around your home, but make an effort to remind everyone who comes into your home of Christ with the decorations you put out. These might change a little bit every year until they are finally more Christ-centered than they are Santa-focused. Of course, most Christ-centered Christmas decor will feature the nativity. Collecting different nativities is a great way to display the true meaning of Christmas, but Christ-centered decorations can be other things too!
One of my favorite things I put out during Christmas are my ornaments with the different names of Christ from the scriptures. I also have ornaments of temples and angels, and of course, a few of the nativity. With all of them together, my Christmas tree has changed to a Jesus tree. And how wonderful it is to be reminded of the life of Jesus Christ each time you look at the tree and read names like “Bread of Life” or “Counselor”! And ornaments aren’t the only way to introduce Christ into your decorations. Artwork of temples, Jesus, or different parts of the Christmas story can be put out. I also really like the picture I’ve seen of Santa kneeling at the side of the manger where baby Jesus lay. It’s a reminder that all of the materialistic things we might do for Christmas can also refer us back to Christ. Even explaining to your kids that the star on the top of the Christmas tree can represent the star that shone on the night Christ was born as a sign of his coming can take something benign and give it meaning. Decorations are a great way to put Christ back into Christmas since they are something you put up once but then enjoy all season long.
Traditions Become Memorable the More You Do Them
Take these ideas and make them your own. Find ways to incorporate Christ into your Christmas season in a way that you can see yourself doing year after year. It’s very easy to go all out one year and then be burnt out the next, so keep that in mind when you pick what traditions you want to start. Your kids might have fun if you go all out this year, but lasting influences come from repeated events–that is the power of traditions! I love all of these traditions above because none of them requires a lot of effort or time. And if something falls flat with your family this year, make plans to adapt for the years after. The point is that your kids might not remember one single Christmas, but they will remember looking forward to and participating in beloved traditions over and over again. I would love to hear more ideas in the comments if you have a tradition or two that have helped your family keep Christ in Christmas.