A Merry and Bright Adventure for ChristmasSample

Holiday Ornaments

What kind of ornaments do you put on your tree? Colorful balls? Handmade ornaments? Hundreds of colorful new options appear in stores each year. Do you enjoy looking at them? Our family does.

Have you ever wondered how the tradition of Christmas ornaments got started? Some say it began with the Adam and Eve feast day in medieval Europe. That was a big party held on December 24 in which people decorated trees with apples. Today, we see a wide variety of ornaments, but many are still shaped like balls—and look a bit like apples.

What do you know about Adam and Eve? Have you heard about how they disobeyed God after the snake tricked Eve? How they ate the fruit from the only tree God told them not to eat from? And how, because of their disobedience, sin entered our world?

If the story stopped there, it would be rather sad. But thankfully, God sent Jesus to redeem us. Christmas reminds us of the hope for new life we find in Christ. It doesn’t matter how badly we mess up; we can always turn to Jesus. Although the world around us may not exactly look the best, remember that our hope is found in Christ Jesus. And as we enjoy the ornaments on our Christmas tree, remember that hope is alive and lives in us when we ask Jesus into our hearts.

Family Discussion Questions

• What mistake did Adam and Eve make?
• Have you ever made a really big mistake? How did you fix it?
• What does it mean to hope?
• Why do we put our hope in Jesus?

Family Adventure: HOPE Ornaments

Today we are going to make some ornaments to remind us that our hope can always be found in Jesus. The ornaments can be as simple or elaborate as you want. You can use construction paper, cardstock, or cardboard to cut out any shape and write the word HOPE in big box letters for your kids to color.

Prayer

God, thank You for rescuing us from our sins. Help us remember that no matter how bad or scary things may seem, we can always ask for Jesus’s help. Amen.