How The Duggars Celebrate Christmas, With One Glaring Omission

Too often, Christmas becomes about the gifts instead of the traditions. We all get so wrapped up in the material aspects of the holiday, we forget about the religious meaning.

The Duggar family does not have this issues, however. While they often face criticism for their strict religious beliefs, their Christmas celebrations are something to be admired.

Keep Christ In Christmas

As would be expected, the Duggars focus on the religious aspects of Christmas. They hang banners around the house that says "Happy Birthday, Jesus", "Christ Is Born!" and "Joy To The World!" They also sing Happy Birthday to Jesus on Christmas Day, which is a tradition that must be fun with so many young kids around.

Michelle Duggar also uses JOY as an acronym during the holiday season, which stands for "Jesus first, Others second, Yourself last."

Jim Bob Duggar also gathers the family around and reads the story of Christ's birth from the scriptures. The house is always well-decorated, with nativity scenes being spotted all over during their Christmas tour video.

There's no Santa Claus in the Duggar household, as they don't want to take away from the birth of Christ as the reason for the season.

Giving Gifts

Buying gifts for a family of five can be hard enough, so a family of 21+ sounds impossible. That's why the Duggars have devised a system of gift-giving that makes things easier on everyone. At Thanksgiving dinner, the family picks names in a Secret Santa-style gift exchange. Younger siblings are matched with younger siblings, while older siblings are matched with older siblings. Jim Bob and Michelle buy gifts for each child and each other.

In addition to their special gift, each child also gets a personalized gift bag including Pringles, beef jerky, and a jar of pickles.

"Almost all of us like pickles, but each one likes a different kind," Michelle Duggar said. "Same with the Pringles and the beef jerky. Christmas is the one time of year when every child gets their favorite flavor of each treat."

In addition to giving each other gifts, the family also puts together care packages for those less fortunate. Each basket contains:

• fruits
• mugs
• candy
• tissues
• Vitamin C packets
• a Bible

They also bake for members of the community, like the fire and police departments, or anyone else who has had a "rough year."

But amidst all their Christmas decor, two things are noticeably gone. One is not that big of a deal...but the other means there could be trouble in the family.

Read the full story on Shared.com.

Photo: Shared.com