The Gift of Celebration

With this wonderful season of joy, generosity, family, and celebration, now is the opportunity to weave lasting wisdom and values into your family gatherings. One of the simplest ways to begin is the practice of family celebration. By celebrating and reflecting on the past year, you have the opportunity to impart wisdom, reinforce the values you want to continue, and rejoice in all God is doing in your family. Use these three practices to guide you as you celebrate together.

Reminisce Together

Great families remember. Enduring families look back. Looking back produces gratitude. Every single family has gone through seasons of struggle, but by looking back at those trials, so you can see the story God has shaped in your family through those seasons. Celebrate those victories together.

You can start by setting aside a time to remember and to retell stories from your family history. Retelling is essential, because the stories and their lessons begin to stick. As the stories and memories are relived and discussed, your family gains a sense of the larger story influencing them and lessons to be learned.

Dream Together

What do you hope for within the next year? Where do you want your family to be in the next five, ten, twenty years? Recognizing your family members’ dreams and goals allows you to encourage them along the way and enable you to celebrate when they achieve these dreams.

Consider taking time as a family to write down individual and family dreams. Whether large or small, the goal of casting vision together is to unify and encourage one another in individual and collective pursuits. Share your dreams as a family, and celebrate the vision of what God is doing and what you see ahead.

Give Together

There is no better way to celebrate than to practice generosity together as a family. Giving is one way you can celebrate all God has entrusted in your care and how He has blessed your family.

This may take some planning but find an intentional way to give as a family this year. Maybe it is finding a place to volunteer, making a financial gift together, or helping a family in need to celebrate Christmas. No matter how you decide to give, do so as a family. Give for the joy, the celebration of all God has done in your life.

While these principles are a starting point, there is no one way to celebrate. God has ordained a unique design for your family, so build the practices that match your family’s style. Remember, each member is different and will celebrate differently. Celebrate that diversity, which strengthens your family and fosters an environment of unity this holiday season.

Even in a busy time of life, making intentional space to see what God has done is a practice that will renew and refresh your family members’ hearts. You will begin to see the common threads God has woven in your stories and draw closer together by these celebrations.