Merry Christmas!

How do the Duggars celebrate Christmas? Baking and decorating start the day after Thanksgiving, as does the anticipation of the upcoming holiday. In her latest Parentables posts, Michelle Duggar explains that she and Jim Bob focus their family's festivities around the birth of Jesus, which encourages a spirit of thankfulness and service towards others. They distribute homemade treats to local firefighters, police officers, and paramedics and play music at nursing homes.

We have fun decorating and baking and doing all that, too, but I hope and pray that my children know that when they come out of our home and start their own homes that the central focus truly was the birth of Christ and how he set the example giving his life, how we in turn should be truly grateful for what Christ gave.

The older Duggar kids often take mission trips during the Christmas season to bring gifts and joy to children in Central America. The kids also put on an annual pageant, a tradition started by Josh years ago.

They come up with the most creative ideas. One year, they took their light-colored sheets and safety-pinned them around their necks. Jessa came up with an idea to make a beard one year. She had long thick curls and she took her hair around her chin with a rubber band and made a beard. Whoever could pull their hair around their chin and fasten it became the wise men. It was so hilarious.

Merry Christmas from the Duggars and the Duggar Family Blog.

Merry Christmas!Merry Christmas!