I’d be lying if I said I didn’t expect the Christmas season to bring a lot of delicious food, especially sweets. Every Christmas, my grandmother makes a German chocolate cake that tastes like it came from heaven. It’s delicious!
Besides indulging my sweet tooth, I always enjoy simple, nostalgic moments with my family while making cookies, or in my world, eating cookie dough and watching others make cookies.
If you’re looking for ways to incorporate Christ into your baking as you celebrate His birth with your loved ones, here are some special ideas to try.
1. Bake Jesus’ birthday cake
What’s a birthday without cake? What’s a celebration without candles and icing? Just like how you decorate and customize cakes for each other’s birthdays, why not make a homemade cake for the whole family that says “Happy Birthday, Jesus!”? Of course, we can’t put an age on our eternal God, but feel free to decorate the cake with candles, edible confetti, fun colored icing, and all the decorations to make celebrating God’s birthday even more wonderful.
It is recommended to bake the cake on Christmas Eve. Then, on Christmas Day, take out the cake first thing in the morning or after Christmas lunch or dinner and have everyone sing “Happy Birthday” to Jesus. This tradition is sure to add special meaning to the joy of celebrating the birth of Christ.
2. Use a nativity scene cookie cutter
Perhaps I haven’t looked carefully enough, but this is the first time in over 30 years of celebrating Christmas that I’ve found a Nativity scene cookie cutter. I’m excited to introduce them to my toddler this Christmas season. In addition to traditional snowmen, Santas, and reindeer, add nativity scene cookie cutters to the mix. Remove the yellow icing for the hay and the edible pearl sprinkles to decorate the wise man’s robe.
If your family is feeling ambitious, have each member decorate one or two Nativity cookies to complete the entire scene. It’s sure to be beautiful when all the decorated cookies come together to perfectly capture the Christmas spirit.
3. Explain the Christian meaning of candy cane
There are many Christmas desserts that include peppermint, so share the true meaning of candy canes with your family using this unique flavor. The white and red colors represent the purity and blood of Christ, and the candy cane shape represents the shepherd’s crook and the letter “J” for “Jesus.”
(The Legend of the Candy Cane is a beautiful children’s Christmas book that explains these details.)
4. Donate homemade desserts
There are plenty of places in your local community where you can get a little more Christmassy this holiday season. Find out if your local nursing home, food pantry, or women’s and children’s shelter has fresh bread available. Consider whether your local fire department, police department, or church staff could use a nice surprise like this.
Let recipients know you’re thinking of them and praying for them this Christmas by placing the desserts in individual bags, wrapping them in festive twine, and adding a message of encouragement along with the item.
5. Renovate your gingerbread house
Why not use all the gumdrops and sprinkles to transform a typical gingerbread house into a gingerbread nativity scene? Families can also bring additional supplies to the table, such as animal toys or fabric scraps, if they wish.
Get creative and to make it even more festive, hold a contest to see who can make the best gingerbread nativity.
6. Communicating Christian truths while making “secular” sweets
Coming from a controlled church culture with unbiblical and strict rules, it took me years to realize that I could see the gospel in certain aspects of worldly things. Not all worldly things are “bad.”
Consider the vintage Christmas character of Dr. Seuss’ The Grinch. The story is not religious. Still, this story presents undeniably Christian virtues such as repentance, forgiveness, and joy.
If you’re making Grinch punch or baking cookies for Santa, share the positive virtues of these characters and their stories. Use moments like these as opportunities to remind your children of the beauty of the gospel.
“Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is beautiful, whatever is admirable, whatever is excellent, whatever is worthy of praise, think about such things” Philippians 4:8 (NIV)
7. Hold a bake sale and donate the proceeds
Everyone enjoys a delicious bake sale. This is especially true during the holiday season. See if your child’s classroom, Sunday school group, youth group, or soccer team would like to get together and host a bake sale. Bake sale proceeds can be donated to nonprofits or churches that need it most this Christmas season.
See which organizations everyone feels driven to serve and make a list of who is baking what. Make sure everyone knows how many of each item to bake. Once everyone’s desserts are ready, have a mini party where everyone gathers and packages the items before selling.
8. Invite a family in need to your home for a sweet night.
It’s one thing to donate a turkey or honey-roasted ham to a family in need, especially if you’re writing a check or paying a nonprofit to have it delivered. But what if you allowed your family to be a little awkward this year and actually invited a family in need into your home to enjoy turkey, ham, and sweet treats?
We often forget that the gospel is not always pleasant. It breaks down stereotypes, encourages vulnerability, and allows people to understand the need for God’s grace and forgiveness. What better way to live this truth for your family than by opening your heart and home to people you wouldn’t otherwise want to interact with?
Of course, it’s best not to invite people over because you’re having a hard time or because you know you’re not going to have a good meal this year, but what if you had a struggling family at your church or your child’s school and you invited them to a family dinner one night? You don’t have to be their best friend to support them, encourage them, and be an example of Christ.
9. Bake cookies for the delivery guy
We have some close friends in our family who work at UPS and Amazon, and they express not only how busy this time of year is, but also how unfriendly their co-workers and customers are. In the next few weeks, we need to deliver Christmas packages to everyone, including overnight and last-minute orders. They drive on icy roads, endure late nights, and battle traffic jams to ensure strangers’ packages are delivered on time. Folks, this is truly a servant’s job during the holiday season.
Consider baking homemade treats for postmen and delivery workers. Place them in individual bags, place them in a basket, and place them at your front door or the area where your package will be delivered. Leave some encouraging words of gratitude. (Consider adding a water bottle or homemade decorations to make this gift even more special.)
10. Invite the Holy Spirit into all your baking
In a world that groans for Jesus and His goodness (even if He doesn’t realize it), what better way to invite Him into your home than through the simple things of everyday life?
As you bake cookies, sing carols, and decorate the tree, seek the presence of the Holy Spirit to fill your family’s hearts.
Bake Bread with a Purpose
You don’t have to prepare a sermon or a devotional to remind your family how much love, joy, and goodness there is in the gospel that began with a baby in a manger.
Grab your dough, sprinkles, and your favorite cookbook and let the joy of Christ flow through you as you teach your family how to bake with purpose.
Photo credit: ©Getty Images/hobo_018
Peyton Garland is a writer, editor, and mom of a boy who lives in the beautiful foothills of East Tennessee. For more encouragement, subscribe to her blog Uncured+OK.
