By 
Christmas is all about joy, service, and love. It is about getting together as a family and enjoying the wonderful holiday spirit. But most importantly, it is about Christ and everything he has done for us. Here are 25 Christ-Centered Christmas activities to help you focus on Him this year! Use this as a daily activity leading up to Christmas or just pick and choose the ones that best suit you and your family.
25 Christ-Centered Christmas Activities
Disclosure: Some of the links in the post below are affiliate links provided for your convenience. This means that if you purchase something through one of these links, I get a small commission at no added cost to you.
Carol at senior citizen homes, hospitals, or your neighbors
Senior citizens living in assisted living homes do not have many visitors. To help them feel loved, noticed, and appreciated this year, go caroling and visit with them! Or you might find a hospital ward that you could visit. Obviously for those options, you need to speak to an administrator to find out if this is possible first. Some aren’t open to outside visitors as much as in the past ever since the start of the pandemic.
You could also carol to your neighbors and sing Christmas songs about Christ. Maybe some of them would even like to join you! Another option would be to ask your pastor about organizing a carol-sing at your church.
Set up the nativity or a nativity craft
Set up a nativity scene in your home so you can always remember Christ as you walk by it. If you have young children in your home, create your own, or do another fun nativity craft.
We like to place the wise men away from the stable and have them progress little by little until finally reaching it by Epiphany. The manger is left empty until Christmas Eve when we place Jesus in it.
We really love the Fisher Price Nativity Set because it’s sturdy enough for little hands to play with without worrying about it getting broken. There are many other options to choose from as well including ones made from building bricks (similar to Lego) and fabric Nativity sets.
Put a Nativity set outside.
We have always wanted to get one large enough to place outside as well so that passersby can see it. This is a nice way to remind others of the message of Christmas.
Act out the nativity story.
You could use puppets or act the story out yourselves.
Get the kids some Nativity themed Christmas activity books, games, and puzzles.
This will help reinforce the story of Christmas with them while they’re having fun!
Read about Christ’s birth with your family
Start reading through the first couple of chapters of the Gospel of Luke with your family starting with the Annunciation and reading right through the story of His birth. Or choose one of the many storybooks available which tell the story of Jesus’ birth. You could even use those as a sort of countdown, reading one book a day for X days leading up to Christmas.
Some suggested ones that we love: The Christmas Donkey by Donna Thornton, Santa’s Favorite Story by Hisako Aoki and Ivan Gantschev, A Child Was Born: A First Nativity Book by Grace MacCarone, God Gave Us Christmas by Lisa Tawn Bergren, The Christmas Promise Board Book by Alison Mitchell, All is Bright: When God Came Down One Silent Night by Clay Anderson, A Beautiful Story: Jesus & St. Nick by Sarah French, The Christmas Baby by Marion Dane Bauer, The Donkey’s Song: A Christmas Nativity Story by Jacki Kellum, The Legend of St. Nicholas: A Story of Christmas Giving by Dandi Daley Mackall, and A Birthday Party for Jesus by Susan Jones.
Bake cookies and drop them off to a friend
Bake some delicious Christmas cookies and then drop them off to your friends. You can ding dong ditch them for a Christmas surprise, or stop and visit with them as well.
We also like to order deliveries of cookies, donuts, or appetizer trays to be delivered to the kids’ schools, fire stations (and other places where first responders work), and even banks or other customer service departments we want to show appreciation to. Most of these places cannot accept homemade goodies for safety reasons but they can accept items that have been ordered and delivered by outside sources.
Smile at a stranger today
Strangers need love and joy during the holiday season. Christ would want everyone to feel loved, so smile and notice everyone today while you are out and about. You never know who may need your sweet smile today!
Make a bed for the baby Jesus.
In this activity, you can bring the spirit of service into your home and your family activities. Place a manger (you can buy them or simply use a shoebox) in your home with a pile of straw next to it (in my classroom, I used paper from the paper shredder to avoid allergies).
Each time someone performs an act of service and kindness for someone else, they can place a piece of straw into the manger. The goal is to make sure that by Christmas Eve, it is filled and makes a comfortable bed for Baby Jesus.
Write down everything you’re grateful for
Christ lived his life being grateful for everything and shared his gratitude with his father. Write down everything you are thankful for. Pray and share that gratitude with God today too!
You could even have the whole family come together to decorate pieces of paper and write down things they’re grateful for, attaching them together to make a paper chain to decorate your tree or some other part of your home.
Give a gift or two to a family in need
You never know who is needing extra help this year during Christmas. If you see someone struggling to get presents for their children, try doing a secret Santa. Or, simply share a gift to someone you are thinking about today, no matter how small.
Many churches and malls have angel trees. You can choose an angel and fulfill their Christmas wishes. There are many ways to help out this holiday season!
Make or buy an Advent wreath
Every day – or at least every Sunday – you can light the candles and gather around as a family for some prayer and devotions. I’ve even seen some Advent wreaths made out of wood or fabric that you can purchase for the kids so they can safely participate in the candle “lighting” tradition too.
Give to a charity you admire
Find and donate some money to a charity you love. Give to one you may not have thought of before or one you know is needing extra help right now. For example, our Humane Society is working hard to move into a larger location but donations have slowed down.
Our church serves a weekly free dinner to anyone who shows up and while we have some fantastic restaurants and stores that donate food, there is always a need for more. Or check to see if your city has a local community fridge and pantry. You can buy some bags of groceries to take to it.
Share about Christ on social media
Share about Christ on your social media today! You can simply share a picture or share all about what Christ has done for you. You never know who might be blessed by your message.
Pray for someone in need of help
Jesus prayed for others all the time, and so should you! Today, think about the people in your life who need extra prayers, and then simply pray for them!
One of our favorite customs is to place all of the Christmas cards we receive into a bowl or basket. Each night at dinnertime, we pull one out and pray for the people who sent it to us.
Text someone how much you love them
Sometimes we all need a random text for someone to brighten our day. Text someone you haven’t talked to in a while to simply share your love for them. My family loves it when I send a card to them in the mail too. It doesn’t have to say much, “I’m thinking of you” or “I prayed for you today” are perfect.
Write letters to Baby Jesus.
Again, you can purchase a kit for this or simply use a shoebox that the kids have decorated. Put out pieces of paper, a pen, and sit it all next to a figure of the Baby Jesus. Encourage your family to write thoughts, prayers, and letters to the Baby Jesus.
We also write letters to Jesus on New Year’s Eve – two letters, in fact. One is a letter of confession about our shortcomings of the previous year. The second is one of goals/resolutions – promises to God about what we hope to do for Him in the coming year.
We burn the first letters in our fireplace – you could also rip them up into tiny pieces. Once you’ve confessed them to God, this is our way of letting them go. (No it doesn’t take the place of the Sacrament of Reconciliation but certainly, it is much like a year-end examen). The second letters get folded up and placed in the toes of our stockings to get packed away until the following year. When we take them out, it’s always inspiring to reread them and reflect on how we’ve done.
Go to church
Try to go to church today or within the next week and get involved in worshipping Christ and all He has done for you! Church during Advent and Christmastime is so full of joy and hope so it’s a wonderful time to go back if you haven’t been for a while.
Mass isn’t the only thing going on at churches around the holidays. Some have Advent missions, carol sings, Advent wreath making events, and more.
Visit a living nativity scene
Many cities will put on a live nativity scene. If there is one close to you, go visit it and enjoy this unique holiday tradition. We used to attend one called Bethlehem Live. They took you on a tour of Bethlehem, including the marketplace, visiting with shepherds, and finally ending up at the stable to witness the newborn King.
Watch Christmas movies that focus on the birth of Jesus.
There are plenty of options to choose from including: A Charlie Brown Christmas, The Star, The Little Drummer Boy, The Nativity Story, Angela’s Christmas, and Veggie Tales The Star of Christmas.
Send Christmas cards that have images of Jesus’ birth on them.
Or if you already bought more secular ones, you can always write a Bible passage inside.
Instead of inviting an elf into your home, how about Mary on the Mantel?
Your Mary doll arrives to your home and moves around from place to place as she “nests” and prepares for the birth of Jesus. This is similar to making the bed for Baby Jesus in that children are encouraged to perform acts of service and then place a slip in Mary’s satchel for each one they do.
You can get accessories for Mary – different outfits, a pregnancy bump and Baby Jesus, and there’s a Joseph doll too.
Or Shepherd on the Search?
This is similar to Mary on the Mantel except that it is a shepherd searching for the Baby Jesus. Again, there are a variety of activities that you can do with the shepherd to prepare for and count down to Christmas.
Celebrate St. Nicholas Day
These Christ-centered Christmas activities will help you and your family draw closer to Christ this holiday season. Share with your friends so you all can have a more joyful Christmas this year!
Extend the Celebration Past Christmas Day
There are so many ways to do this. We spend Boxing Day together as a family. No visitors, no going anywhere. This is our time to connect with each other after all of the busyness of the lead-up to Christmas and it’s a wonderful way to share God’s love with our own families. We also make bird feeders and put them out for the birds as a way of taking care of creation.
Some years, we celebrate the full 12 Days of Christmas and assign a word to each day. The first day might be Joy, then Love, Peace, Generosity, Gratitude, and so on in the following days. We try to find a way to observe each of these days, tying in a Bible verse or story with them and often finding ways to reach out and help others as well.
Finally, we celebrate Epiphany by doing an Epiphany home blessing and exchanging small gifts with one another. Some years our rule is that we have to give each other something handmade or something secondhand. We read stories about the Wise Men, including our favorite Baboushka and the Three Kings by Ruth Robbins.
How does your family focus on Christ at Christmas?