If you know me at all, you know I love the Christmas season. There’s nothing like it. I love the music, the gift of Christ, the decorations, the food, the family traditions, all of it. It’s great stuff.

Since we have school all year long we can take time to stop and smell the roses evergreen. We usually follow a loose plan for the month of December which includes the following, in no particular order:

• Advent inductive study 
• decorating the house
• cooking
• crafts/art
• games
• shopping
• making gifts for family and friends
• going to parties
• participating in our church’s children’s Christmas production
• Decorating our Jesse Tree

The list is big but I set aside one day each week of December for an activity. For example, Mondays are craft day, Tuesdays are for special games, Fridays are for baking, etc. This gives us a good variety and the kids know what they can look forward to. It also helps us to pace ourselves so we don’t get overly busy.

Also we have started reading Lynne Cheney’s book about Washington on Christmas Eve as a new tradition. It’s good to teach our children to be mindful of the sacrifices made for our liberty.

The pace is relaxed and we do a sort of unschooling thing because we are always learning, just not is a formal way. I also have tons of printables, Christmas-themed books and more for those bored moments and read-alouds. We can snuggle and talk about the true meaning of Christmas as we enjoy the tree, Christmas music and some hot cocoa. Hurry up December!