Do you ever want to change things up a bit and instill something new into your usual family traditions and keep it fresh? A few years back, and by a few, I mean probably more like 7….time really does fly…I was looking for a simple sweet, slow-paced Christmas tradition to add to our plethora of already fun traditions. I was wanting yet another tradition to remind my children that True Christmas Joy Really Does Reside In The Heart, not under the tree.
I really wanted to find something that took our focus off of ourselves and onto the real meaning of Christmas as well as fun and a memorable tradition.
I mean we already had the Advent Calendar which we use to focus on service minded activities, and our reading the christmas story from The Bible on Christmas Eve to the kids, but I was looking for something else. So, I went to everyone’s research buddy…the internet! ha!
Low and behold that’s where I discovered The Bethlehem Dinner! It’s really all about celebrating the completely miraculous story of what was about to happen all those years ago in Bethlehem and just imagining, slowing down, and being very very thankful!
Cue the Bethlehem Dinner!
To this day, my kids always count on it and ask for it to be sure we don’t forget!
Christmas Eve is when we choose to celebrate our Bethlehem Dinner, but you can incorporate it whenever you want to if you decide it’s something you want to incorporate.
It’s quite simple really. We get very basic and simple and this is what we usually do:
1. Pick your time for dinner.
Be sure you are thinking about your kids and whomever else you may be celebrating with and whatever else you have going on that evening, like a Christmas Eve service, or opening gifts, or anything else. For our family, once we find out the time of the Christmas Eve service we are attending, we then plan our dinner accordingly. So, if we know the service is at 7 pm, then we know we have to do our dinner beforehand or we will have seriously cranky kids by the time we get home and our typical dinner time is earlier than that anyway.
2. Plan your menu.
The great thing about this menu is it is supposed to be very simple and focus on what they may have eaten back in those days. I do believe this is one of those areas you could get too wrapped up in, so we just do what works for us and our menus is as follows:
Our Menu includes:
Grapes
Cheese
Olives
Olive Oil dip for Bread
Baguette-style bread
Smoked Salmon
Grape Juice
3. Serve on inspired dinnerware.
This is totally optional and I don’t think we did this until like our 2nd or 3rd year or doing it, as it is always evolving just like our lives, right?!
But now, the girls look forward to this part as do Todd and I! We have some favorite pottery and it happens to be brown so it makes us think rustic and basic as in those times and we serve it all on and in those dishes and that maybe the only time of year we use them come to think of it.
But, we have also served it on paper plates as that reminded us that things weren’t fancy back then and they used what they had. You could use anything that feels basic and simple to you. The idea is to go low key and simple. But, again, don’t get bogged down in this or the menu as it’s supposed to be a fun tradition! So, if all you have is plastic mismatched plates, then serve on those and incorporate that into how they used what they had back then too!
4. Get dressed for dinner!
Again, this is optional, but so much fun while the kiddos are little and to be honest, we enjoyed it as well as did my inlaws when they participated with us as well. This is so simple and doesn’t cost much, if anything. We usually just grab extra flat sheets that we have around the house and then you can wrap it around your shoulders or you can even put a bathrobe on over your clothes. We usually try to be barefoot (as we do that inside our home anyway) and you can have a long sheet and tie a piece of string around your head like a crown would fit to hold the sheet on.
5. Talk about what it may have been like during that time!
This is probably one of my kids’ favorite parts! We love to imagine all those that have gone before us and appreciate the path they have paved and how their lives and experiences help impact and shape our own. We love to imagine what they may have talked about and how tired their feet must have been, but their perseverance in pressing on kept them going. They love to imagine their anticipation and excitement at the coming events and how they probably ate in darkness very simple foods and the noises and sights all around them.
6. Dim the lighting way down!
OK so if I am being totally honest, this has to be one of my favorite parts. So, we know they didn’t have electricity back in those days obviously. We try to go really dim and only eat by the glow of an LED candle, or the glow of our essential oil diffuser, and sometimes we will even just plug in a strand of white lights that I leave hanging over our dining room bay window area. You can even just plug your Christmas tree in if it is nearby enough to provide the glow you need to see the food…or maybe even take it over to the tree and eat by the tree on the floor!! (that one literally just came to me and I may have to try that this year!)
7. Enjoy!
Yes, this needs to be an item on the list. Here is why. Don’t get so bogged down in the details and trying to make it “just so” or the dreaded word “perfect” that you miss out on having fun. The whole goal of this is for you to not have “one more thing” to accomplish, but to incorporate a fun family tradition that doesn’t take much work or effort and gets things back to basics before all the craziness of Christmas Day ensues! Have fun, talk about what you are grateful for, slow down for the evening, focus on others that have gone before you, and most of all, enjoy your family.
Grab your FREE INFOGRAPHIC PRINTABLE HERE for an easy reminder of How To Have A Bethlehem Dinner as a gift from our family to yours! Merry Christmas!
Drop us a comment below sharing if you have a Bethlehem Dinner or any other fun family tradition centered around the true meaning of Christmas and how your family enjoys celebrating those traditions!
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