The Duggars Celebrate Christmas In Their Own Special Way

Sometimes it can be a little overwhelming at Christmas in my house because our family is getting bigger. I get a little freaked out by all the chaos, all the bodies that need places to sleep and food to eat. And then I think of the Duggar family from TLC's Counting On and I calm right down. Because if the Duggars celebrate Christmas every year and have a grand old time doing it, surely I can pull myself together as well.

Michelle and Jim Bob Duggar and their ever-growing brood like to go all in for Christmas, even as their children are having children and starting to make memories of their own. Everyone in the Duggar family might be figuring out how to create their own traditions for Christmas as they move into adulthood with their own families. For instance, Jessa and Ben Seewald and their two little boys, Spurgeon and Henry, recently participated in a rather modern "Ugly Christmas Sweater Party." As Jessa wrote on her Instagram page, "We ate way too much Italian dinner, then dove into desserts that were part of a baking competition. Next was a white elephant gift exchange, and then board games and a movie to bring the evening to an end."

This new tradition is still in keeping with Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar's original concept of their family's Christmas traditions. Where you won't get a Christmas tree (because it apparently takes the focus away from Jesus, as Josh Duggar told E! News in 2014), but you will get lots of time to reflect on the reason for the season, as Michelle wrote in a 2014 blog post for TLC:

It's an exciting time. We decorate. It's a big birthday party for Jesus. We make banners and put them all around the house and put out our nativity scene. We've got a big beautiful nativity that has the Christ child in the manger, Joseph and Mary and some of the wise men and the shepherds. That goes out on our counter and then we surround it with pretty white lights. And so, that's our big emphasis.

The Duggars are so intent on keeping Christmas about Jesus that they also really try to discourage the whole concept of Santa Claus, although Michelle did write in her TLC blog post that they tell their children about the historical significance of St. Nicholas:

We kept that idea out of the whole celebration, we explained to the children who Santa Claus was historically, but focused on his good deeds and his ministering to children. We tell them about the true person of Saint Nicholas, but we don't sensationalize him.

Based on this photo of Jinger Duggar and her husband Jeremy Vuolo from last Christmas, I guess looking at Christmas lights isn't against the rules. Although she is wearing ripped jeans in the picture (typically a big Duggar no-no), so maybe this was a rebellious moment.

The Duggars do celebrate Christmas with baking and togetherness and even a Christmas card. And if that makes all of them happy over the holidays, well that's just grand.

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