This week's Works for Me Wednesday (WFMW) is a themed edition: "Share your best (or find a new favorite) holiday/entertaining/celebration tip!" 

I'm choosing to focus on how we celebrate the Christmas holiday.  It is an incredibly simple concept, but - at least among our friends and family - pretty rare.  What do we do?  Our Christmas morning starts with Mass.  That's it.  Plain and simple.  Christmas is about the birth of Jesus Christ.  So we start Christmas day celebrating the most incredible gift of all, God's gift to us of Jesus. 

We allow our children to open one group gift on Christmas Eve, usually a game.  On Christmas morning, we get up, have a simple breakfast, and if we need something to keep them occupied while we finish getting ready, they can play with their Christmas Eve gift.  Then, without opening any other gifts, we go to 8:00 a.m. Mass - and continue to remind the boys about the reason we have Christmas to celebrate. 

After Mass, when we return home, we're able to relax, open our gifts at a leisurely pace, and take our time enjoying the presents they receive.  We don't have to drag them away from new toys or games mid-way through the morning, or race through opening gifts to get done "in time" for anything.  We put first things first - the celebration of Christ's birth - and celebrate it our way.  We've been asked how we do this, with friends and family wondering how we get the boys past the gifts and out the door for church.  But there really is no how to it - it just is what we do.  If you don't already put first things first on Christmas morning, give it a try - you may be surprised with how it sets the tone for your entire day (and beyond)!

A nice side benefit: the boys look very handsome in their pictures opening gifts after Mass!