Christmas Traditions Eleven Months Early!

Okay. Really quick post.

Yesterday I posted on my Facebook writer page a photo of our Christmas card tradition.

One of our family traditions: hanging Christmas cards we receive on thick ribbon along the staircase. All cards are prayed for over dinner by the family before we hang them up.

Thought I’d share it here with all of you on the blog and create a nifty pin for Pinterest. Of course, like every good idea I share, this is not an original idea. Darrin and I began praying over each card after we first heard the idea from our friends, Otto and Ruth Buhler. Hanging the cards from ribbon off the staircase we first saw at the Homestead house several years back.

What I’ve most enjoyed about this tradition is introducing our kids to friends from around the country and the world and helping them put names and faces together. Usually we divide the cards out evenly between the family (and guests if they happen to be joining us), open the cards and read them to ourselves, and then one of us begins to pray based on names or news from the Christmas letters. Over dinner we pass around all the cards for each person to read. After dinner I staple the cards to the ribbons off the staircase.

Our family is blessed with friends and ministry partners who pray and give so faithfully in order for us to work with college students so it is especially meaningful to pray for each of them. We also serve God with incredible staff and friends in Cru and other ministries spread across the country and around the world. Our vision for the world is renewed as we pray. During a brief window between Thanksgiving and New Years we are reminded of the priceless gift and treasure of our family and friends.