I need to get some Christmas posts up but given today starts the 12 days before Christmas, I knew I needed to get this one up.

This is the first year that we will not be all together at Christmas.

Gabe and Shannon are currently in Houston finishing up his internship and they head to Colorado next week to spend Christmas with her family this year.

Zach will be spending Christmas in Tahiti on his mission.

We have always had a lot of traditions around Christmas. I am a self proclaimed and proud tradition freak and love Christmas (and have passed my love of Christmas along to some of my kids so it makes being away tough). When we first were married and blending our family, we decided to introduce a lot of new traditions to help create our own CDF Christmas (initially Christmas was hard for everyone because it was different, missing certain things, doing other new things) so we made a lot of our own traditions to help us feel more united.

And it worked! ( I think!)

We have our advent calendar, Quiet Elfie (who is spreading his wings this year – more to come), quote wall, Christmas tree walk and decorating, the nativity set up, the Christmas market, Christmas letter, Christmas baking, Christmas cookie delivery and light drive with hot chocolate, Christmas PJ’s Christmas movies, and of course, our Christmas Eve activities and Christmas morning. (We’ve tried some traditions that have failed too – but who knows what else we add as our family grows!)

So this year has been a bit different with only Josh and Sam but we are still going strong! Zandra arrives home this weekend and can join in the festivities too!

However, with Gabe & Shannon and Zach being so far (and him being completely on his own without any family), I decided we needed to come up with a tradition to unite us as a family wherever we are. There will be many Christmas’ in the future where we will not be together, and since this is the first one, I decided we should start now!

I read this amazing quote:

“Each member of Jesus’s earthly family—Mary, Joseph, and Jesus—stands as supernal examples of God’s Christmas gift to all mankind. … This family was unified in seeking God’s glory; unified in serving one another; unified in fulfilling God’s will; and unified in sacrifice, obedience, and love. This holy family provides us a pattern of attributes that, when emulated by our own families, will enable us to enjoy the same blessings of unity and love they enjoyed.”
—Elder Richard J. Maynes of the Seventy

What better way to unite our family across the thousands of miles than through Christ.

What better way to celebrate the true meaning of Christmas than learning more of our Saviour.

So, starting this year, we are doing the 12 days of Christmas .

This is how I explained it to the kids in an email:

Every year, we will find a way to celebrate the 12 day’s prior to Christmas in a way that draws us closer to Christ. Perhaps each year we do it differently, or do it the same; perhaps each year someone else suggests how to celebrate it – we can try out different 12 days ways (Pinterest is full of them lol)! As we eventually welcome more spouses and grandchildren, perhaps a different family can be in charge each year and cater it to the different ages that we have. In any case, the goal is to bring us closer to each other by becoming closer to Christ during this Christmas season – even when we are far apart physically.

The excitement was astounding. LOL

Well, truth be told, it was pretty well received:))

So today is day one.

Here are the instructions they all received:

Every day, focus on one of the gifts that the Saviour has given us . Read the accompanying scripture and then do the following: (I included the days in their email)

1) Find 3 more scriptures that talk about this gift and write them down. It would be great if you shared the scriptures you found with us all (on CDF chat and I’ll pull them out and put them in an email for Zach – or you can send them to him via google hangouts directly too).

2) Notice the gift as many times as you can during your day – deliberately look for the gift – take note of it! Write down what you noticed in a journal or a note on your phone! (When we know we are writing things we tend to look harder for them!) 

3) Share the gift, testify of the gift, teach about the gift, give the gift  – this is an act of doing so that others can experience that same gift on this day. Be creative! 

4) Feel the love of the Saviour as you come to get to know Him better by learning of the great gifts He is offering you. Ponder what each gift really means to you personally.  This is the true meaning of Christmas and the reason for everything. 

Oh and to be fun, you can sing each day to the 12 days tune:) 

Because Zach only has access to his emails once per week, this year I have sent them the list of gifts and scriptures a head of time – but in future – we can do it day by day.

For the blog, I will post it daily and at the end of the day come back to edit the post to add what people have sent me.

You are welcome to follow along!