How to celebrate Christmas with children - Christmas for children

The Christmas holiday was undeservedly forgotten for a long time in the official calendar in Russia, but for believers it was always a welcome and one of the most beloved twelve( twelve) major church holidays. After all, on this night, from 6 to 7 January, the birth of Jesus Christ - the Savior of the World! Today, the tradition to celebrate this amazing fairy-tale holiday returns. Someone wants to welcome the birth of Christ in the Gregorian calendar from December 24 to December 25, as Catholics or Protestants do;someone dear Orthodox canons, and then Christmas is celebrated a week after the New Year - January 6-7.Many people began to wonder: how to celebrate Christmas with children, how to instill in them love for a holy holiday from infancy?

A wonderful family holiday can be arranged for children who have reached the age of three or four when they are already meaningfully becoming full participants in the action and help parents not only prepare for this bright holiday, but also cheerfully meet this Christian miracle. Young children can watch the preparations and will imperceptibly imbue with the joyful mood of Christmas.

How to prepare with the children

You need to decorate your home: a house or an apartment with the whole family. Children are happy to join this fun game, imbued with the spirit and traditions of the celebration of Christmas. If you decorate the tree, make sure that the children are not injured by fragile glass toys. For them, Christmas crafts made from salted dough, wood, paper, plastic containers of kindergartens and other safe materials are good for them. Do not criticize children if you do not like the results of their work. For decorating the Christmas tree, oldies used sweets and other sweets.

• Be sure to prepare a Christmas wreath made of juniper or fir paws with children.

• Preliminarily it is possible to bake angelfish from salted dough together with children, to cut out these unearthly creatures from paper, then to hang them on the fur-tree branches and decorate them with a festive room. You can arrange with a few kids a small fun contest to cut out snowflakes, angels and other paper crafts. In church benches and bookstores before Christmas, they get thematic coloring, which can be used by toddlers. As an option, the kids gladly respond to a request to draw an illustration to the Christmas story you heard from you. By the way, all the manual work should be accompanied by stories about the secret meaning of the symbolism of Christmas: the angels, the Bethlehem star, the manger, where Christ was born and other attributes of the feast. You can read several beautiful Christmas tales or stories. So your children will penetrate the meaning of the jewelry they create. And in the period of zealous drawing of Christmas "masterpieces" you can calmly dress up and cover the festive table.

• In Europe it is customary to put a "Christmas star" in the center of the table, a bright flower - a punch. It is important to choose not only traditional, but also bright beautiful dishes when preparing the Christmas menu. Children often unconsciously choose them by sight, but only later - to taste. Since there should be at least 12 dishes on the table on this holiday, be sure to prepare a "rich" kutya with honey, raisins, nuts, original pastries - for example, a pie, several different salads and a sweet dessert that your baby loves. In the evening of January 6, you can eat fish dishes, and on the 7th - bake a goose, chicken, turkey or duck.

And how to spend this wonderful holiday

On Christmas Eve, on the evening of January 6, plan a walk on the street. As soon as the first star appears in the sky - Christ was born! You can go back and taste three spoons of kutya "For the Father, for the Son and for the Holy Spirit!", Then start the meal.

You can cheer kids on a Christmas night with a themed performance. To do this, you need to sew a curtain-screen or use an ordinary piece of cloth. If you do not have time to sew dolls, you can use pre-molded Christmas figures of angels and other characters. The script should reveal the child the traditions of Christmas. Children at the same time can not simply watch the theatrical performance, but actively participate in it. First, they will have to explain in detail what their role is, and then - prompt and guide them.

And how to celebrate Christmas with the children on January 7 in the evening? From this moment, right up to the very day of the Epiphany on January 19, the people are having their Christmas day. Parents with children dress up in fairy-tale heroes - a goat, a fox, a pig, a wolf, as well as images of evil spirits - kikimors, Baba Yagi, a trait and other characters, go to friends and relatives, singing carols that were learned in advance. Caroling is a fun game with jokes, singing, dancing. Children are happy to participate in such ridiculous processions-carnivals. In addition, when they came to visit, the children "sowed" grain to the owners for future well-being in their house, and for this they received baked goods, sweets and a small amount of money, which it was customary to give in response to carols.

Having learned about the ancient rituals and traditions of the celebration of the Nativity of Christ, many people sincerely and forever fell in love with this bright and joyful family celebration!