3 Easy Ways to Share Your Faith when Hosting “Holiday” Parties

Last updated on: March 12, 2015 at 4:42 pm by Lisa M. Hendey

3 Easy Ways to Share Your Faith when Hosting “Holiday” Parties 2015-03-12T16:42:51-07:00 Lisa M. Hendey

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

My ears are still ringing this morning from the awesome party we threw at our house last night. I’ll be scraping red frosting off the floor and finding half filled plastic wine cups around the house for the next few weeks. But hosting close to a hundred of my husband’s work colleagues in our home is always a blessing. Especially since the annual “holiday” party for his department at the hospital is catered!

As I was surveying the aftermath of the bash this morning, I thought back to some of the fantastic conversations I had last night. Greg’s colleagues are a diverse lot. We even had one of them show up rocking an “Ugly Hanukkah Sweater”. As I was sharing news of my work with a few of them, it occurred to me that even though a corporate Christmas party should not be a place to prosthelytize, I could still be open about why “Christmas” is important for our family. So here a just a few simple ways that those of us who host corporate holiday parties can do a bit of faith-sharing:

1. Light the Advent Wreath

If I had my way, my house would not look Christmassy until 12/24. But for a variety of reasons, including holding this party, it looks like a tribe of elves marched in here and went bonkers with the red and green. But violet and rose are prevalent too, and will be until we burn the fourth week of Advent’s candle down to a nub. I left our Advent wreath up and burning last night, and answered a few “What’s that?” questions that helped me to share the beauty of Advent.

2. Have Christmas Mass Times Handy

Inevitably, part of your holiday party conversation will relate to sharing stories of how your family celebrates the holidays. I love to share that Mass as a family is always the highlight of our Christmas. You’d be amazed by the number of non-Catholic, “spiritual” friends who ask about Midnight Mass. I decided that next year, I’m going to print up a small card with our parish’s address and mass times to share with guests who ask. I’ll probably leaving them sitting by the bar too, since that seems to be a high visibility spot!

Our outdoor nativity set

3. Keep the Crèche Front and Center

“Jesus is the reason for the season”, right?! My favorite Christmas decoration is our very large and ever growing plastic nativity set which lives out back by our pool. Yes, I’m a weird Californian Catholic. Last night, we had a bonfire out by the pool, so my wise men and animals, and especially Jesus, Mary and Joseph, were guests of honor at our party. So many people admired and asked about our nativity, which gave me a simple way to share my love for the Holy Family.

When it comes to sharing our faith at holiday parties, I need to avoid going all “Church Lady” on our guests. But as 1 Peter 3:15 says:

Always be ready to give an explanation to anyone who asks you for a reason for your hope…

Note to Self: Always be ready!

I’d love to hear your thoughts on ways in which your family shares what’s meaningful to you at Christmas, especially in “challenging” settings or just in the everyday busyness of the season. Feel free to chime in below and share your thoughts!

New Evangelization

Christmas

Previous Post

December 8, 2014

How I've Been "Renewed" by the Work of Father Robert Reed

Next Post

December 11, 2014 Thou Shalt Not Cyberbully

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category @Pontifex Books Catholic Geek Stuff Catholic Moments Family Life Good Measures Liturgical Calendar New Evangelization News Reviews Rwanda Saints Speaking Tanzania Journal Top Catholic Tweets Travel Uncategorized Vocations Yes

Select a Month August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

Which king was killed at the Battle of Megiddo?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Asa Josiah Jehoash Amaziah