Christmas: preparation and traditions of the holiday. Getting ready for Christmas with the kids! Four days before Christmas

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Christmas- The second largest Orthodox holiday. It is filled with mystery, expectation of a miracle, magic. They are waiting for this holiday, they are preparing for it. I WANT to tell you how to properly prepare for, to feel all the enchanting magic of this day.

In Ukraine, the night before Christmas is called Holy Evening. It is celebrated on January 6 the day before. On this day the forty-day Holy Day endschristmas Lenten Meal and at the same time meet the onset of a joyful day- January 7.

Christmas fortune telling

On the night of January 6-7, it is customary to guess. Other holidays are treated differently. Zealous Christians believe that all fortune-telling is nothing more than a pagan tradition that has come to us from the depths of centuries. They recall that the Church calls fortune-telling a great sin.

Others, in contrast, argue that on holy days unclean power loses its power and cannot harm people, and clergy do not seem to consider fortune-telling fortune-telling as "demonic" and allow such amusements. However, the tradition of fortunetelling at Christmas is still respected.

Church

Christmas is primarily a celebration of the soul. Therefore, if you decide to spend the night on the eve of Christmas in the temple, then find out how to properly prepare for a long Christmas service.

First, when preparing to go to the Liturgy at night, take care in advance that you don’t want to sleep so much. To do this, be sure to sleep on the eve before the service, and drink coffee.

Fast fast. "Until the first star" means not starving, but attending the service. In this case, it will be possible to eat already in the afternoon, that is, after the end of the liturgy. But if you decide to devote this day to cleaning, and so on, then eat after the "first star".

As for confession, it is better to confess on the eve of the Christmas service, so that in the service you should not think about whether you have time or do not have time to confess. There will be a lot of people in the temple, and the priest, as a rule, is alone. Do not turn Christmas into a culinary celebration. Moreover, this does not bring any benefit to either the soul or the body.

Prepare for worship - read about it, find a translation, psalms. In this case, you will know when you can sit down for a while and listen to what they read. In the words of one saint, it’s better to think about God while sitting than standing - about feet.

Temples are crowded on holidays. Therefore, put candles or touch the icon another time. The amount that you would like to spend on candles, in such cases it is more correct to put in the donation box than by any means break through to the candlestick. Be sure to partake of the sacrament.

Christmas table

Traditionally, in Ukraine, in addition, 11 more dishes were necessarily present on the table (together with 12 kutia - in honor of the 12 apostles). This is an uzvar (compote made from dried berries and fruits), cabbage, peas, fish dishes, cabbage rolls with rice, lean borsch with mushrooms, buckwheat porridge, dumplings with cabbage, lean pancakes, mushrooms, pies.

The meal takes place without alcohol, and all dishes are served slightly warmed up so that the hostess is constantly at the table, and not distracted by cooking. It is believed that you need to try every dish, but do not eat it completely— so that there is always prosperity in the house.

Gifts

Giving gifts (primarily to children) goes back to the gifts of the magi to the Divine Infant, who brought him gold, frankincense and myrrh. It has long been a traditional Christmas presentcandles. They must be festive, beautifully designed. Candle symbolizes life.— bright, burning, bright, as well as comfort in the house.

The best present for both big and small is sweets. Europeans' favorite treat is marzipan Christmas figurines. Also popular are chocolate figures and gingerbread cookies.

Figures of Jesus and Mary - A traditional gift in many countries. In addition, it is customary to give small icons depicting Christ and Mary. In some countries they give Christmas the books - as a symbol of knowledge and wisdom. Often they were of spiritual content, and special attention was paid to the festively decorated cover. Tales with beautiful pictures are suitable for children.

Photo Source: pixabay.com, open source online

Forget about yourself, remember about God

As a matter of fact, the main preparation for Christmas is Christmas time. It was allocated by the Church so that we can stop in our daily run and think more carefully than usual about God, about our soul and salvation, about the meaning of Christmas. Indeed, on this day the Lord Himself, the Creator of heaven and earth, for the sake of our salvation, becomes the same as we are, a man similar to us in everything except sin. The coming of Christ the Savior into the world is a central event in human history. That is why this holiday is very special, and the Church invites us to be sure to prepare for it.

What does this preparation consist of? We must try to cleanse our souls and our hearts, choose the path of goodness for ourselves, the path of struggle against our sins and passions. And a post has been established to help us in this fight. Probably everyone who goes to the temple knows that fasting is abstinence from food of animal origin. But not everyone remembers that fasting should also be abstinence from any kind of entertainment, idle pastime. Fasting is a time of achievement, strangely enough it sounds in the context of modern life. And this feat consists in at least partially forgetting about oneself and thinking more about God, about the atoning feat of Christ the Savior, which begins with His Christmas.

Many holy fathers have a clear comparison of the human heart with a nativity scene. And they say that the goal of a Christian during Christmas fasting is to turn his heart from a den, that is, from a cave for livestock, from a barn (in fact, this image very accurately reflects our real state) - into the palace, that is, the palace worthy of the meeting of Christ the King. This poetic comparison best expresses the meaning of the preparation for the holiday to which every Christian is called.

To spiritual joy

The services of the Christmas Lent, unlike the services of the Lent, are not structurally different from the usual services that are performed throughout the church year. But at the same time, there is a very interesting peculiarity in the liturgical texts preceding the feast: on the days of the pre-celebration (from the second to the sixth of January in a new style), the service introduces a person into the space of those events that precede the Nativity of Christ. And we literally step by step follow the holy family, the wise men, together with the Mother of God and the righteous Joseph the Betrothed, we find ourselves in the den, in which Christ is to be born. Divine service on Holy Week has the same peculiarity; it makes a very strong impression.

Touching canons at the party are read these days. I personally love them very much and always try to read it myself. Compline is a monastic service, and in ordinary parishes it is usually omitted. But I always bless during the feast days to serve supper in our temples for the sake of these touching, very deep in meaning and content canons.

January 6 - the eve of the Nativity of Christ. This day is marked by a special post, which, according to ancient tradition, should last all daylight hours - "to the first star." Why is that? Fasting, which we know today as abstinence from certain types of food, in the Ancient Church also had temporary aboute measurement: the post was held until sunset. And that is why the Liturgy of the Reverence Day should be served in the evening - so that it ends by the time the sun sets. The Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts in Great Lent was also initially performed only in the evening, for the same reason. Now we are doing these services in the morning - it’s easier for the parishioners, but this is wrong in the meaning of the service. Now more and more parishes in different dioceses are returning to the practice of evening celebration of the Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts, as it is supposed by the Charter. Perhaps someday the services on the eve of the Nativity and Epiphany will again be held in our temples in the evening.

On this day, it is customary to talk with the so-called juice, that is, wheat boiled with honey and dried fruits. Therefore, the feast day is also called Christmas Eve.

The divine service of Christmas itself consists of an all-night vigil and Divine Liturgy. It is completely ordinary in its structure, but, of course, everything that is read and sung in the service is dedicated to the event and the meaning of the Nativity of Christ. One of the main Christmas carols is the angelic song "Glory to God in the highest, and peace on earth, good will in man." She sounds repeatedly during the service. A certain musical and textual symbol of the holiday is also the chant “God is with us” - it contains prophecies from the Old Testament Book of the Prophet Isaiah about Christ the Savior.

The question is often asked: how long should the fast before Communion last for those who are going to receive communion at night? If a person can fast according to the Charter, then on this day he eats food once after sunset. Today it is getting dark early with us - which means around 16-17 hours. If a person is weak, please, he can eat later, but at least five to six hours before Communion. We must proceed from the fact that the night Liturgy ends at 2-3 am.

When they ask me: “How often do you need to go to church on these holiday days?”, “Do I have to be in this or this service?” - I find myself in difficulty. How to answer? Imagine that two people love each other. And it will seem ridiculous if a young man or girl thinks: “So we saw each other today. Do we need to see each other tomorrow? Or maybe only after a couple of days? ”... If a person is in love, then he always wants to be with the one he loves. So it is here: if a person loves God, if for him the Church is life, such a question simply does not arise. There is a possibility - a person goes to the temple.

Usually, every year in December, discussions about how good it would be for the Church to switch to a new style, so that the New Year is celebrated after Christmas, already at the end of the Lent, revive the Internet. But I believe that the winter vacation time that we have now? Is a great blessing for believers. In our country, this is a weekend, so even those who work and usually do not have the opportunity to go to work on weekdays can go to the temple. By the way, this is noticeable: on Christmas days, churches are filled with people. New Year's “holidays” give them the opportunity to attend services, to speak in the full sense of the word and thereby spiritually prepare for Christmas. Therefore, I would not give to anyone this week before Christmas, which the difference in calendars helps us to spend in a Christian way.

So, the Christmas Lent ends - the time that the Church gives us so that we can best prepare our hearts for the great feast of the Nativity of Christ. I would like to wish everyone to spend this time for their own benefit and to meet the holiday with spiritual joy, which is above all the pleasures of the world and which alone makes a person truly happy.

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Today, in the traditional heading "Holy Truth", Archpriest Andrei Tkachev will talk about the celebration of Christmas

Brothers and sisters, I welcome you. We have two calendars - Julian and Gregorian. According to the Gregorian calendar - on December 25th, in our opinion on Spiridon of Trimyphuntes, most of the Christian world celebrates Christmas in the flesh of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Christ has two Christmases. The Son of God is born out of time from his father, without a mother, and on earth is born once in time, from a mother without a father. And we actually celebrate the Nativity of the Son of God in the flesh from the mother of Mary the Virgin from the Holy Spirit and without the seed of a husband. Today you can congratulate all those who celebrate Christmas on this calendar. In the Orthodox world, this is a lot, a little Romanians, Bulgarians, Greeks, and many others. In America and Canada, Orthodox Christians celebrate Christmas on these very days. In Palestine, the Jerusalem Church, Georgians, Serbs, Russians - I celebrate differently, according to the Julian calendar. And part of the Orthodox world celebrates like this. Therefore, this is not only Catholic Christmas, but also for Orthodox Christians living according to the Gregorian church calendar, unlike Easter.

All Orthodox Christians celebrate Easter equally, Easter we have one. And the whole Orthodox world celebrates Easter on the same day. It is very important. It seems to me that it’s very important to understand that we are celebrating. What are we celebrating, brothers? Celebrate the incarnation of God. This is what distinguishes Christianity from Judaism and Islam. Because they are monotheists. And they both worship as they can, as they can, as they taught the Creator of heaven and earth. But only Christianity claims that God has become man.

In the words of St. John the Evangelist: “The Word is flesh be swift, and His glory is seen, glory is like the Only Begotten of the Father, fulfill grace and truth.” The word has become flesh. The word was incarnated, embodied, became a man, animated. That is, the Word of God, which is always with God, which is God, from the Prologue of the Gospel of John, we are taught that it became flesh from Mary the Virgin and became human. What we sing about in the Symbol of Faith: We believe in Christ the Son of God, the born, uncreated, consubstantial with the Father. Through which everything became. Everything was. Imzhe all bysha.

Well, it is precisely in these godless times that we must affirm the celebration on a dogmatic basis. That the church has no non-dogmatic holidays. Introduction to the temple, Assumption, Transfiguration, Christmas, Easter, Epiphany are all dogmatic holidays, they have a dogmatic foundation. Celebrating a holiday with buns and buns, not knowing the dogma of the holiday - this is some dubious occupation, which then breaks through like a dam, as if, with a cracked wall under the pressure of water. From the flow of various new teachings, or from actual godlessness.

Today I boldly urge myself, a fool, and all of you, smart and rational, to ensure that we understand the dogmatic basis of the holidays. On Christmas, we celebrate a unique thing - God became a man. “Undoubtedly,” writes Paul to Timothy, “a mystery of great piety, God was embodied, God became man. He justified himself in the spirit, showed himself to be an angel. Preached among the nations, accepted by faith in the world, ascended in glory. ”

We preach that God has become a man, the Divine and humanity, in the person of Jesus Christ, are united. United, according to the Fourth Ecumenical Council, united inextricably and not continuously. That is, without merging, not disconnecting. And we celebrate, in the person of Christ, this “bamboo jesu”. Behind me are these shops, in Polish speaking, or the nativity scene in Russian. This is where baby Jesus, Mary above him, is made of clay or wood figures. Joseph, the three kings, whom in the Middle Ages began to be depicted as blacks, yellow and white. As if representatives of the three races who come to Jesus to bow. ... Three magicians from the East, Persian magi. They were not there. But they began to depict so in order to show the coming to Jesus manger of all nations.

You can ask your parishioners: what are you celebrating, people? What is generally celebrated? Birth of a child? They are born every day in large numbers. We don’t go to the maternity hospital with palm branches, waving at every baby. And who was born? What is so special? The atonement of our sins was born. And who said? A star from the sky said. There she stood over the house ... And people came from the East, brought him gifts, gold ... myrrh, showing that He is the Lord, and the sacrifice, and the king. He is the little Jesus, born of the Virgin Mary, who did not know her husband. Whose womb of the male seed did not know which Virgin remained. She gave birth to him without pain, and lied, and bowed to Him.

Celebrating God who has become man. If we forget this, there is no point in Christmas. There is no point in Easter if everything came down to Easter cakes and eggs. There is no point in Christmas if we do not know that we are still celebrating. Christians are not just monotheists, not just believers that God is one. You believe that God is one and doing well, an unreasonable person. Demons also believe, but tremble. We believe in God who has become man. In his only begotten Son, in His Word He was embodied, the Word became flesh. This Word is the bambina of jesu, this little Jesus, this child Jesus, whose name was revealed in advance to Joseph and Mary. To whom we worship, who grows up, will be circumcised at eight days, at the age of 14 he will be baptized, will become, so to speak, an initiate in secrets. And he will enter the temple of God, will talk with the elders. And then at 30 he will be baptized by John in the Jordan. And he will be clothed with the power of the Holy Spirit and will go to the wilderness for 40 days. Then he will return - he will preach for three years. And then he will be rejected and crucified. And he will lie in a coffin and rise again. Here we celebrate the beginning of all this.

On these holidays we need to merge our feasts, all of our things winter and funny, with the bloody history of the life of Christ the Savior and with his solemn glorious Resurrection. That is, our holidays are dogmatic. We do not have dogmatic holidays. Holiday gives a person fun and relaxation. It gives him a weakening and a certain weakness in everyday works. And gives him a dogmatic load. He gives him a certain anchor in his soul, so that we won’t be swept away. To the anchor thrown kept you in place. Hold on the spot. Study the teachings of the Church. Read the gospel. Go to the temple. Without a temple, Christianity is ... the feathers of a dandelion that blew - and there is none. Go to the temple. Repent before God of your sins. Rejoice before the Lord. Cry for your sins. You need to be able to do both. Rejoice over the Lord, interpret and cry about our sins. You must be able to repent.

So Merry Christmas to all those who celebrate Christmas according to the Gregorian calendar. We still have Spiridon. We are saved by his prayers. And then there will be our holiday in two weeks. And we, the second part of the Christian world, will celebrate the Nativity of Christ. That is, the incarnation of God is the Word. So far, the holiday of those who are already close to the holiday. Well, our holiday is yet to come. Goodbye.

Troparia to the feast of the Nativity of Christ

Ryour pride is Christ our God, the ascension of the world is the light of reason: in it I serve the stars of service, I study with a star, You bow to the Sun of truth, and You are led from the height of the East: Lord, glory to Thee.

New Year's Day was left behind and a special week came before Christmas, and one of these features is strict fasting.

So how to spend this week?

What will we present to Christ on His birthday?

In the first place is our soul!

If it is clean, washed with sincere repentance, the Lord - the child will be childishly delighted with such a gift and will accept it as gold from the first Magus.

And repentance is not only a church confession, but also a request for forgiveness from all offended people, as well as the forgiveness of all your relatives and friends (if they offended you in something).

In second place is our good deed!

We can help acquaintances and strangers, materially and morally, support with a ruble and a kind word - all these are good deeds, which the baby - Christ will gladly accept as incense from the second Magus!

Well, the third place (according to our humble assumption) takes endurance of a strict post from January 2 to 6, and preparation for Communion. Fasting and Communion is work for God, and therefore a gift that the Lord will accept as a meekness from the third Magus. Why did we assign only the third place to this so important matter - fasting and Communion? Because these are more prerequisites for any Orthodox Christian than the two of the above. But any Orthodox Christian must give God all three gifts, then on his soul, on Christmas Day, there will truly be a Great Holiday!

Well, and, of course, in this special week you need to read more spiritual literature. Fortunately, the Christmas holidays give us extra free time for soulful reading.

What should be our preparation for it, besides the usual household chores?

We asked this question to Metropolitan of Saratov and Volsky Longin. .

Forget about yourself, remember about God

The coming of Christ the Savior into the world is a central event in human history. That is why this holiday is very special, and the Church invites us to be sure to prepare for it.

On this day, it is customary to talk with the so-called juice, that is, wheat boiled with honey and dried fruits. Therefore, the feast day is also called Christmas Eve.

How to cook oatmeal?

Usually, every year in December, discussions about how good it would be for the Church to switch to a new style, so that the New Year is celebrated after Christmas, already at the end of the Lent, revive the Internet. But I believe that the winter vacation time that we have now is a great blessing for believers. In our country, this is a weekend, so even those who work and usually do not have the opportunity to go to work on weekdays can go to the temple. By the way, this is noticeable: on Christmas days, churches are filled with people. New Year's “holidays” give them the opportunity to attend services, to speak in the full sense of the word and thereby spiritually prepare for Christmas. Therefore, I would not give to anyone this week before Christmas, which the difference in calendars helps us to spend in a Christian way.

Photo by Alexander Kurochkin and from the editorial archive

Metropolitan of Saratov and Volsky Longin

Varvara Volkova, mother of five children

About a month before Christmas, when the first snow falls:

- We are writing letters to Santa Claus - who wants to get something for Christmas is already a tradition. Children are waiting for this event. When we write, we sit down together, light candles. This year we put out a basket with letters on the street. In the morning, of course, they disappeared.

Then, accordingly, Santa Claus begins work - a search for the shops of what was asked. Usually we try to prepare everything in advance.

– We post Christmas calendar. Every year - it is different. Last year, it looked like a big picture, on which hung a lot of small bags - for every day a bag - from December 19 to January 7. Each bag contains a Christmas story and 4 candies. The children eagerly waited every next day to open the bag, and in the evening we read a new story.

This year we hung up large "Santa Claus socks", the same with the numbers, for each day - one sock. They contain not only stories, but also tasks. For example, one of them is to make a family Christmas mail, for which we will prepare a special box. More tasks on some of the days - with the help of puzzles to look for books about Christmas.

- I also wrote this year several stories about our family, in which children will add their additions - this is also one of the tasks.

- One of the tasks is to “save” the frozen dinosaur, which is hidden in the freezer, in a frozen ball of water.

- Or make something, do it yourself.

- It is included in tasks and learning of carols, verses.

Until the new Year

Children learn poetry. This time we are preparing a performance with the elders - The Nutcracker.

– We begin to decorate the house. We buy a Christmas tree before the New Year, but we don’t dress up: we will definitely meet the New Year with my grandfather, but when we return, we start preparing for Christmas.

Decorations are not only store-bought, they are specially dried and painted oranges (oranges are cut in round slices, dried overnight on a battery, and then painted with colored nail polish with sparkles). And we also bake cookies and then hang them on the Christmas tree, make paper decorations - garlands and lanterns.

- Then, when we bake cookies, bake a gingerbread house, the dough is one and the same.

Four days before Christmas

We try to go to the temple with the children - to help clean it, decorate it. By the fifth child, I understood one simple thing. This slogan in my head sounds: "You will not have time for anything." And you need to calm down on this. You won’t be able to do what if you had one child, you wouldn’t be able to do what you would if you lived in the center of our capital, etc. Therefore, you need to focus on one main thing. I chose a calendar, writing letters and real cards to all godparents, grandparents and friends that they will receive by mail, decorating the house with my own hands. It also seems to me that the child will more remember the home performance, learning poetry than endless running around fairs and Christmas trees.

On Christmas Eve, our dad goes for groceries, buys meat. Then we try to let him sleep - he has three services ahead (dad - deacon Alexander Volkov, head of the press service of the Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia). True, this is not always possible.

- This is purely my personal tradition: to decorate their rooms in a special way at night, when the children sleep. I can’t go to night service with small children, but they wake up in a real fairy tale - their rooms change significantly. Children are really looking forward to this in order to open their eyes in the morning and it’s already like Christmas, it’s not at all what it was yesterday: there are garlands on the windows, lanterns everywhere and shiny “rains” hang down.

In the morning we go to the Liturgy.

We only light the lights and garlands on the Christmas tree January 7. When gifts appear, the tree lights up. So that the children have an association, the Christmas tree lights up precisely on Christmas.

Now, since we moved to our house, on this day the whole family is going to gather with us - grandparents.

Children go to the Christmas tree (before Christmas - Christmas trees at school, grandfathers at work). I think that it is not our parental “checkmarks” that matter to the child — they went to so many Christmas trees, it is important for him to accumulate impressions. Many, for example, as adults, say: “I remember going to church as a child, it was dark, beautiful, they sang like that” And not: “I visited the all-night vigil, where the elephants on lithium seemed especially touching to me.” Children live in images, impressions, atmosphere. Therefore, it seems to me that if we try to make bright, festive impressions associated with Christmas, then they will be remembered for a lifetime.

Children's tree at home. Children will show a performance that they rehearsed before, singing carols, and reciting poems. We call all the relatives and friends with whom we stage the play.

The recipe for the Gingerbread House from Varvara Volkova:

flour - 1 cup (until the desired consistency of the dough is obtained)
soda - 1/2 tsp
   sugar - 200 g
   honey (liquid) - 250 g
   melted and cooled butter - 200 g
   chicken eggs - 3 pcs.
   vodka or cognac - 50 ml (optional)
   cinnamon (ground) - 1/4 tsp
   ginger (ground) - 1/4 tsp
   cloves (ground) - 1/4 tsp
   cardamom - 1/4 tsp
   allspice (ground) - 1/4 h. Spoons

Mix the spices in a mortar and carefully grind them into the finest powder (into fine dust).

Sift the flour through a sieve (!) And then mix it with soda.

The remaining ingredients of the dough, including mashed spices and vodka (or cognac, rum), combine in a separate bowl.

Mix thoroughly with a whisk or spoon, but do not need to beat

Add flour and soda to the rest of the ingredients and carefully knead the dough with your hands for about 12-15 minutes.
The dough should be firm and elastic.

Roll the well-washed dough into a ball, wrap it in cling film and place it in the refrigerator for at least 3 hours (preferably at night).

Note. This gingerbread dough does not allow any delays after kneading - kneading for up to 20 minutes, quickly butchered products and immediately put on baking. Otherwise, the gingerbread dough “drags on”, and the product will significantly lose quality.

Before cutting the details of the house, take out the dough from the refrigerator and leave it at room temperature for at least 1 hour to allow it to warm.

We adapt to the schedule of children

Natalia Yalta, mother of nine children

We always have a very tense end of the year and we are building all plans based on children's plans. Children have two schools - secular general education and Orthodox at younger.

In the Orthodox - they are preparing for Christmas, in the secular - the half-year, control, and concerts end.

There is also a choir, classes at the end of December and the beginning of January - almost every day. Plus concerts, plus children singing at services. After Christmas - on the Christmas tree and on January 12, everything ends with participation in the service in the Assumption Cathedral of the Kremlin.

We have to bring the kids, take it.

I have a session after January 11: I study at the teacher training courses. So I need to prepare for exams too.

So we take a schedule for one day each (one child has a rehearsal, another has a concert, the rest has something else), and we try to plan for that day.

What exactly is planned in advance is buying a Christmas tree December 31i, simply because after the New Year you can’t buy it anymore. The year before last, we went to the forestry, in the past, a friend called and said that in Moscow, children with many children in the Christmas market are handed out for free.

Another thing that we must do is to go to the theater at Christmas time. This year, children will go to the Bolshoi Theater (we bought tickets in advance - for three months).

January 1-6whenever possible, try to restore order. How and when can we: students have a session, especially you will not use them.

So it’s good if everything could be planned in advance, but it doesn’t work out. So, that we have time and - thank God!

Clothing for performances in children is always on alert - we know that they can be invited to speak at any time, so here again - no special training.

We prepare a festive table on Christmas Eve, between services. It’s not difficult - there are many of us, and on the eve we distribute who will do what. Usually there are always volunteers - someone takes on a salad, someone else. It usually takes about an hour or two.

We have miraculously emerged the church-ded Santa Claus from the New Rusalimsky Monastery, and said: "All children (from 26 to 4 years old) write letters with wishes." Wrote, now we are waiting for what will happen.

Children prepare a concert for each holiday, but when they do it, I don’t know: this is their personal initiative.

Do not forget the thermos and sandwiches

Julia Bagramova, mother of three children

Live christmas tree buy on New Year's Eve and dress up on the street near the house. But then she stands for a long, long time, not crumbling. This decorating action usually happens when dad is at home, and I am at work: so that children do not get bored without me. We put an artificial one at home, we hang plastic toys on it so that if dropped, there are no cuts and so on (and what was dropped was repeatedly).

We paste stickers on the windows.

Giftsi usually try to cook a month before the New Year - small and small for the New Year, significant and more for Christmas.
In general, I try to do everything very in advance, because otherwise I just will not have time. So, advent calendar Started cooking in the summer. I came up with tasks, ideas. This year it consists of two weeks - a week before the New Year and a week after, before Christmas. Last year, the children really liked the idea of \u200b\u200bsuch a calendar, they looked forward every day to find out that today is a riddle, a crossword puzzle, a task to make something, for a little one - just sweetie and the opportunity to observe the process ... Externally, we have this calendar time severe - a plate and on it there are 14 screws, on which a bag with surprises will “move”.
To prepare for Christmas, we try to read some christmas book - per day per chapter. We start somewhere a week before the holiday.
Food procurement and cooking I also try to stretch in time and not leave until the last. That is, on January 4-5, I buy everything, 6 - only marina (since most likely the main dish is chicken), and 7, when we all get home, I just put it in the oven.
January 6, I plan to do with the children biscuits.
On Christmas Eve we get nativity scenes. One, home-made, is already three years old. I drew, our dad sawed from plywood. We did it in the summer, and the children also took part in this. It is installed next to the tree. The other is purchased, but it is not very reliable, the details are now deteriorating, and something needs to be glued.

January 7, try to go to the nursery liturgy. Since we live in the suburbs, you need to go to Moscow.

We tried to take the children to night service, but it seems to me that they are still small and there is no particular benefit for them in this. At best, they just fall asleep. Closer to Communion, we slow them down, they don’t understand where they are, what they want from them ... Although they wait at first, they are interested in what they need to go. But in the end they get tired, they have no feeling of a holiday.

Children get used to one church, and children's liturgies are not served there. Therefore, I explain in advance that we will go to another church, where there will also be a communion, and then we will return home, eat and give them presents.

7 in the morning still sleeping, I get up, cook with myself, because - Holiday - I make sandwiches with sausage or a meatball. I pour tea into a thermos, prepare our “camping” cups.

Then one wake of the children. Seniors dress themselves. I am the youngest. Dad goes with them into the car, I close the door.

In general, we need two hours to pack up and get there.

After the service, we, if possible, go to the cafe, and then to the zoo. It’s great in the zoo in winter, although the weather is more often, as expected — winter, windy. There are more animals than people and you can consider them.