The Holiday Season is in full swing at Camp Joy! In fact, the Staff at Camp Joy have already put up their Christmas decorations and have begun many of their own family holiday traditions.
We recognize that the real message of Christmas is that the perfect Christ came to earth to set mankind free from their sins. He paid for every sin with His life only to rise to life again three days later and, thus, defeat sin and death itself! By this, He ultimately proves that He is God. How amazing God is! He is the ultimate blessing of Christmas and His gift to us is the greatest we can ever receive!
However, we will be remiss to forget all of the small blessings, traditions, and memories associated with Christmas that also make it dear to our hearts. Therefore, with the festivities and blessings of the season in mind, the Camp Joy Staff wants to share some of their favorite Christmas traditions, memories, and songs with you!
What is your favorite Christmas Tradition?
These are the individual answers of Camp Joy Staff:
“Setting up our Christmas tree or opening stockings…[opening stockings was] always fun because each one had…things we liked.”
“Decorating our Christmas tree.”
“Probably having wagon wheel dip, opening ONE present, and playing family games on Christmas Eve.”
“All of my siblings putting on our pajamas and filling up the car to drive around late Christmas Eve looking at all the Christmas lights.”
“Watching It’s A Wonderful Life with my family on Christmas Eve! We’ve watched it every year since I can remember and no matter how many times I’ve seen it, it never gets old!”
“My favorite Christmas traditions all center around family…I love our annual cookie bake. All the ladies in my family get together to make a variety of cookies that we then deliver while we carol/ That tradition is tied with my immediate family’s Christmas Eve tradition. Every Christmas Eve we enjoy dinner together, watch a Christmas movie, and open our stockings.”
“…Our December 1st festivities. Each child gets a little fun Christmas gift to start off the season with festive pajamas, a movie, and candy. We celebrate that night by reading books and watching Christmas movies together as a family. I love this tradition because of the excitement the kids get when they realize that the Christmas season is finally here!”
“Our entire Christmas morning routine is probably my favorite tradition. We would wake up early, wake up our parents at a given time, hurry downstairs, start a fire, read the Christmas story together from Luke 2, open stockings, trade from our stockings, open presents, and then eat a late brunch.”
“Family time with nothing else to do. [For a while] we only had each other. But that is all we really needed. In time, I believe we preferred it. We had the most amazing times. At Christmas especially we made times, whole days even, where we had special meals, maybe opened some presents (we did not open them all on the same day), and played some kind of made-up game…”
“I don’t really remember all of the traditions that I had as a kid growing up. With our kids now, we have a gift for our kids on December 1st that they can open. We also have an Advent calendar that we put candy in for the kids. We typically open stockings on Christmas Eve and we open the other gifts on Christmas Day.”
What is your favorite Christmas memory?
“A sleep over that I had with my siblings in the living room the night we set our tree up. We turned all the lights off except for the tree and had an amazing time together. Christmas for me was more about the time spent with family and friends than the gifts…”
“[My brother and I] receiving our Xbox 360 for Christmas.”
“I honestly have great memories of a lot of Christmas days, but overall, probably swimming on Christmas…it is hard to pick just one.”
“The first Christmas that I got a phone. I was 18 at the time…or when my aunt lit our oven on fire for the third year in a row.”
“My favorite Christmas memory is going over to my grandparents house for Christmas lunch and hanging out with my cousins. It’s harder for us all to get together nowadays, so I love to look back on those memories!”
“…from my childhood. I vaguely remember driving to church for the Christmas cantata and seeing a very white Christmas. The drive to church looked like a Hallmark movie…I just remember feeling very joyful.”
“My favorite Christmas memories [are from when] I was a missionary kid in South Africa. There is something special about warm weather, swimming in the pool, Christmas Day service with the church, opening presents with sunburns, and going to a cookout with another church family member.”
“Two prominent Christmas memories from years past are receiving a Chicago Cubs jersey the Christmas after they won the World Series and watching the Chicago Bulls beat the L.A. Lakers with my cousin (back in the Derrick Rose era).”
“Family gathering and watching others open presents. I like watching others open presents more than I like receiving them. We go one at a time. Special presents that take time and effort to put together are suddenly revealed when the recipient opens them. My favorite all-time was the year I brought my wife a really nice bed and breakfast trip with a horse drawn sleigh ride…I bought a thermos (to take with hot chocolate on the sleigh ride) and put all of the brochures inside the thermos for my wife to unwrap. Watching her discover the gift was the best.”
“Just spending time with family!”
What is your favorite Christmas carol?
“Angels From The Realms Of Glory – I never really grew up singing it, but in recent years I have fallen in love with that carol. I love the words and the tune.”
“O Come All Ye Faithful”
“Joy To The World – It is easy to sing, learn, and has a great message.”
“Oh Holy Night – I think it’s such a beautiful song. It really helps remind me of how great a sacrifice Jesus made in being born for us.”
“What Child Is This – I like the way it tells the story of Christ’s birth and the purpose of His coming!”
“God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen and Oh Holy Night – They are powerful songs that remind me of the reason for the season.”
“Oh Holy Night – I play the flute, and this specific song is a fun and pretty one to play with the flute.”
“Sweet Little Jesus Boy – It’s not a traditional carol, but it is a simple spiritual that potently reminds me of how much I don’t deserve Jesus and how how much He loves me anyway.”
“Silent Night – The carol has a ‘slow paced’ sound and message to it. One thing I like about Christmas is the opportunity to take a slow pace for a season.”
“O Come, O Come Emmanuel – This is my favorite because it talks about Jesus coming to be God with us, saving us from our sins, and coming again to be the desire of all nations and all people.”
What are some of your favorite Christmas traditions, memories, and songs?
We would love to hear a few of your stories! Please feel free to share your own answers to one (or all) of these questions in the comments!
From the Camp Joy Staff to you, We wish you a Merry Christmas and a happy New Year!
