Well, welcome, Mom Q family. Today I’m talking with Katie Trent about her new family devotional and some ideas to make Christmas time more meaningful and memorable. We all know that it’s hard to slow down during the Christmas season and get our own hearts focused on Christ, much less our kids. So I’m excited for Katie to share her sanity saving tips and adventure ideas with you. So welcome, Katie. Thank you so much for having me.
Katie J Trent (00:27.743)
Thank you so much for having me. It’s my pleasure to be here.
Candace Nassar (00:31.037)
Really good to have you. I’m excited. I know God sent you to us because we have similar hearts to help families just disciple their children and all that sort of thing. So before we get started, why don’t you introduce yourself to our listeners and tell us a little bit about your family?
Katie J Trent (00:49.725)
Absolutely. My name is Katie J. Trent. I have been married to my husband James for almost 20 years and we’ve been in ministry together for about 18 of those years doing everything imaginable, including planting churches and some missions, and so we just love God and we love His family and we have two amazing kids that I homeschool. This is our eighth year homeschooling. And then I started writing books and blogging probably about five years ago, creating resources specifically for busy moms to really help disciple your kids in fun, meaningful, and memorable ways. And so that is one of my favorite things to do. And I have three interactive devotionals that are out now to help families, as well as a digital discipleship course, Family Faith Building Academy. So that helps you know how to disciple your kids from beginning to end in fun, meaningful and memorable ways. And I’m excited to be here.
Candace Nassar (01:14.82)
Yeah, that’s so great. I mean, that’s so much of what we do is help moms disciple their kids. And so I love that you have that faith. What is it called again? Family Faith Building Academy. Yes, I checked it out and it looks terrific. I know that our moms are always looking for resources because they just don’t have the confidence a lot of times and so it’s really great that you’ve started that and more power to you writing books and having kids in homeschooling. I’m just like, “Wow girl, you go!” So you obviously have a lot to say apparently. I get the picture. Great. Well, we’re excited. We’re talking about Advent and before we really even go into your book or anything else, why don’t you just tell us what Advent is for people who aren’t familiar with it?
Katie J Trent (02:15.924)
I like to stay busy, obviously.
Katie J Trent (02:34.069)
Advent really is a season of preparing our hearts for Jesus and remembering why we’re celebrating Christmas and what He’s done for us. And so some churches have Advent traditions built into them. Others don’t. For me, we came across it probably five or six years ago, this concept of Advent. And I just love the idea of being very intentionally focused on discipleship throughout the month of December, especially because it can be so commercialized and it’s so easy to get lost in all the busyness of being a mom and trying to do all the things. And so I loved the concept of just really helping our kids to focus on Jesus. Why are we celebrating? Who is he and how can we use this season to help our kids understand better all of his promises and how we can live a life of very active faith.
Candace Nassar (03:22.654)
That’s great. You know, I grew up with the little calendar. You know, 1 through 25. We would move the marker and we had a piece of candy and for me it was just counting down the days because I was not raised in a Christian home and so for me it was just counting down the days until Santa Claus. But I love your devotional, which is just such a great title, A Merry and Bright Adventure, during Advent. I love that. But it has a daily devotional reading along with other prayers, discussion questions. The pictures are incredible. Yeah, and the recipes that you can do with your kids is a lot more than what I grew up doing.
Katie J Trent (04:11.207)
Yeah, absolutely. We’re the same way and we’ve tried a lot of different things with our kids over the years, but I really love putting all the things that we love best about the holidays into a very simple way to disciple our kids. And my kids were blessed. We actually printed this book. It’s the only book I’ve ever done that we printed the whole thing off last year and went through it as a family before it released. And my kids loved it. They have been begging and waiting all year long for the release. And so that blesses my mama heart to know that my kids love it and hopefully yours will too. And so I love that we were able to really see their faith come alive throughout the whole month of December.
Candace Nassar (04:44.13)
So let’s talk about how we can incorporate the book during Advent.
Katie J Trent (04:55.539)
Yeah, so the book is set up very simply. First off, you can do as much or as little as you want. And I think that’s important to know. I have a little note to moms in the beginning, and we have things to make it easy, like grocery lists and supply lists and things. If you homeschool and want to do more, there’s info for how to do that too. But it’s really just a very short interactive devotion, so you can do it in the morning or at night, really whatever your schedule allows. And it asks questions. It shares a little bit about the backstory of how these holiday traditions got started. So what is the representation? Why do we have Christmas trees and bows and poinsettias and all of these things? And so it gives a little history and then interactive questions so you can cultivate conversation about it. And then it has a fun family activity. And those are simple. They range from simple crafts, you know, to a flashlight walk or looking at lights. I mean, very simple, easy things, many of which you’re probably already doing. And then we have a recipe, as you mentioned, that we tie in with a little biblical truth. So, just for example, the first one is on hope. So we’re talking about hope as a person, and we’re talking about the history of ornaments. And so we’re looking at how did that get started with Adam and Eve Day Fest. And because apples were represented, we’re making a fruit smoothie. So it’s a very simple, easy recipe.But then we talk about, you know, the fruit of the spirit and how we are called to judge by the fruit and look at the fruit of our lives. And so it’s just a simple way that you can kind of connect with your kids and share gospel truth with an object lesson, because I don’t know about you, but it’s easy to forget all the things, right? But if I can link what I’m learning with something very tangible and practical, it helps for me to remember those of my kids to remember those lessons as well. and so that’s really what the book is designed to do and it’s open and go so you don’t have to start on a certain day you can go all the way through but if you have to skip some days you’re not missing anything. It’s not building on it. So in just a few minutes a day, you can really help your kids to see why, why are we celebrating? How can we look and think about Jesus when we’re looking at this? And then how can we use those little remembrances all over, right? To share the love of Jesus with other people too.
Candace Nassar (07:10.154)
That’s so great and I love how even for homeschool families you have some suggestions of how to apply to different subjects. I’m a big history nut so I’m thinking, “Ooh, I can’t wait to read this and find out all the history.” I don’t even know the history of ornaments. Very good, exciting.
How can common sights and sounds of Christmas teach our children about Christ? If we’re, you know, we’re doing the book, but we’re also just kind of living our lives and we just want to, you know, I think of Deuteronomy 6:4-9, where, you know, it’s just as you’re walking and talking, you’re doing that, you’re discipling your kids. So how can common sights and sounds do that?
Katie J Trent (07:52.254)
Yeah, so imagine changing your whole perspective instead of going through and thinking about like your list of what do you want to get or, you know, all of these things that just remind you of the wants of the things of Christmas, you know, that don’t have anything to do with Jesus to changing your perspective. So now all of those things that you look at remind you of Jesus. Let’s say, for example, a Christmas tree and the way we teach about the Christmas tree and how it’s shaped as a triangle, which reminds us of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, you know? So, it’s shaped that way and it’s an evergreen tree because it reminds us of the eternal promises of God and it points upward, which is to lift our eyes toward Jesus, to focus on him. And so when you’re having these conversations and you’re teaching kids these types of things about all the sights and sounds, then now every time they see a Christmas tree, they’re remembering those truths, those biblical truths, and their focus is on Jesus and not on, like you said, Santa Claus or gifts or food or whatever else. It really just helps you to remember little nuggets of truth about who God is and how much Jesus loves us and what Him coming to earth really did for us and how we can model our lives after Him, His generosity and service and compassion and really put those things to action.
Candace Nassar (08:41.273)
That’s so good. Think about just when we disciple our kids and we’re teaching them at home the truth that when they go out, for those moms that, you know, have their kids in public school or even Christian school for that matter, that you know they’re hearing lies about this time of year and just getting that consumer mindset just fed to them over and over and this is grounding them this is giving them that these are the truths that you can take and maybe you can share with other people. As well as it just keeps it the top of their mind for Helping them have the right reason for the season. Yeah. Very good. So What advice do you have for a parent who’s feeling overwhelmed with the holidays?
Katie J Trent (09:50.908)
Yeah, absolutely.
Katie J Trent (10:01.214)
I think first off is to know that you’re not alone. We all can fall into that trap of busyness and overwhelm and overwhelm for different reasons. Maybe you’re overwhelmed because you’ve lost someone and you’re trying to navigate this season in grief. Maybe you’re overwhelmed because finances are crazy tight and you’re trying to figure out how to give your kids a Christmas that they’re used to without the same type of finances. Maybe it’s because your schedules are busy or you know, a thousand other things. And so I think first off, recognize that we all experience it for some reason and some degree, and then take a step back and realize that you can, with some intentional planning and purpose, really make this a season to remember no matter what you’re facing. I always tell people, you know, kind of the three P’s for thriving in the holidays is first off, pray. I like to make sure that I am bathing everything, especially the holiday season in prayer. I want to be purposeful in interactions with others. I want to be aware of the needs around me I want to be mindful of what God would have us do in this season and not just kind of go through the motions of what we might always do. And then I want to make sure that I’m planning. Right now is the time to sit down and kind of think through what is a realistic schedule? What is a realistic budget? What are things that are important to our family so that we can really all come out of this happy and healthy and enjoying the season? And for us, I know, one of the things that our family loves to do this time of year is we create a family bucket list. And so we sit down together, kind of have a family meeting and we say, you know, like, “What is the thing that you love the most about what we do for the holidays? And what would you like to make sure we get a chance to do?” And, obviously, if they share some things that aren’t realistic, then, you know, you can kind of help curve that conversation. But this makes sure everybody’s expectations are clear and there are no unmet expectations, which really add to that frustration and chaos. And you’re able to have a digital, visual plan to say, “Okay, these are our priorities and the other things are just extra, but we know what’s important to our hearts and our minds and we can keep those in play. And then recognizing that we’ve got to prioritize and that’s where you know, the book comes in saying, this is what’s most important to me this holiday season and every holiday season. I want to make sure that I’m teaching my kids about Jesus and I’m living like Jesus. so we say “no” to things or set up boundaries that maybe other people don’t understand, but it’s because we’ve prioritized what’s important to us. So, I think that really has helped us to kind of curb some of the chaos that we normally would have experienced.
Candace Nassar (12:44.293)
That’s great. The three P’s. So the first one was prayer, planning, and prioritizing. Very good. I’m thinking about your planning. One thing that my husband and I always did with our kids is we had a budget and we said this is what your budget is and especially when they got to the age where they knew they could pick out what they wanted because they knew the real truth about Christmas.
Katie J Trent (12:45.416)
Mm-hmm.
Candace Nassar (13:05.627)
And so we would say this is the budget and you look at whatever you’re picking out you got to make sure that it falls within this budget and that way they had that expectation that you’re talking about and it enabled us to have limits, know that they had to choose, right? They had to make choices and they wouldn’t always get the things they wanted on their list and we still do that actually. So, I think that that’s an important element. Very important.
Katie J Trent (13:05.926)
Yeah.
Katie J Trent (13:31.252)
Absolutely, and I would say, “Mommas, no child remembers every gift or toy or thing that they received each Christmas, but they’re gonna remember the memories.” Like, I remember baking with my mom. I remember that smell. I remember that fun time in the kitchen together. That was a beautiful memory that we built. And so, focus on the memories and the moments and not on those things that pass away, because that will truly be what builds your children and your family closer together. And it doesn’t require a lot of money to do those things. That’s right. I love that. I mean, those traditions are so important and my kids to this day, all, you know, married and whatnot, they still want those traditions. So those are super. Those should be a priority, right? Yeah. And it doesn’t require a lot of money to do those things.
Candace Nassar (14:16.569)
So what are your favorite holiday traditions in your family?
Katie J Trent (14:21.712)
We have so many. If you read the book, you’ll find most of those probably fall somewhere on the list. But I think one of the things that we really enjoy is we have a door decorating contest. And I have too competitive of people for it to actually be a contest. we just take a day and we, you know, take a roll of paper and we each decorate our door, you know, interior doors to bedrooms in our house. And then that stays up throughout the month of December. And it’s fun to see how the kids have grown and changed, you know, from the little scribbles to more advanced techniques, cutting snowflakes or, you know, whatever it may be. And so that’s something that’s really fun. And it gives us smiles each day. Of course, we always love gingerbread house decorating and looking at holiday lights together. And then we definitely love to make sugar cookies or gingerbread cookies each year. and that has been something fun that has really morphed into actually an evangelistic outreach. So we moved from Arizona to Myrtle Beach about two and a half years ago now, and we moved into like a brand new build subdivision, and we didn’t know anyone at all in the state, and so we baked a bunch of treats to take to our neighbors just to greet them and welcome them and, you know, share the love of Jesus. And we got so many testimonies from people of how they were ministered to people that were far away from their own families or experiencing grief or different things where, you know, a cute kid coming to their door and giving them some homemade cookies and things really bless them. And so that has become a family tradition that is probably one of our favorites-to bake and deliver holiday treats to our neighbors. And, you know, they’ll stop and ask, are you doing treats again this year? And they recognize the kids from going door to door. And so that has really become probably one of our favorites.
Candace Nassar (15:53.789)
I can see that. I mean, what a way to spread the love of Jesus during that season, right? And just teach your children the importance of loving their neighbor and serving their neighbor in that way. So that is super special. I love that. So let’s talk a little bit about discipleship since you’re so connected to that world.
And what advice would you give a parent who’s struggling to engage their kids in any kind of family faith building activities? I’d say first off, take a good hard look at your relationship.
Katie J Trent (16:35.23)
I’d say first off, take a good hard look at your relationship. I always tell people the stronger your relationship is with your kids, the more effective your discipleship will be. So if your kids trust you and you can have conversations with them and you’re building a strong relationship foundation, then they’re gonna wanna receive whatever it is that you’re trying to share. so focus on building those conversations and those connections. And then I’d say, realize that opportunities are all around you. I know for myself, I didn’t grow up in church either. You know, I’m not a theologian. And so I don’t have all the biblical answers, but I found that as I sought the Lord and I looked for ways to share biblical truths with my kids that God met me exactly where I was at and he would lead me in these conversations and opportunities and look for those teachable moments. They usually happen when things are crazy and we don’t want to stop, the kids are bickering and fighting and we’re at the end of our ropes. But if we’ll pause and use those moments as teachable moments then we can take a biblical truth and really sow that into their little hearts. and show them, you know, what does the Bible say about arguing? What does the Bible say about how we should use our words? What does the Bible say about how we should love our brother? So taking those moments and just starting with what you know, that can go such a long way and not to be afraid of the questions. It’s okay to say, wow, that is a really great question. Let’s figure it out together and teach your kids how to search out biblical answers and how to use resources to find those things that you don’t know. But I think just starting the conversation and taking what you’re learning, if you had a few moments to listen to a devotional or read a chapter in the Bible, ask the Lord to give you ways to show your kids what you’re learning in the Bible throughout the day. And I think you’ll be amazed at how He does that.
Candace Nassar (18:10.269)
Yeah, that’s really good. So instead of just setting aside okay 15 minutes we’re going to do this faith building activity. It’s an all day all the time thing of building the relationship and weaving all of those lessons in and then it becomes just sort of second nature really.
Katie J Trent (18:45.594)
Exactly, you know if we just relegate God to church and you know set Bible study times or things, then he’s replaceable in our life. He’s just something we do. But if we can teach our kids that our faith is active and alive and so ingrained in who we are, then nobody can talk them out of their faith as they grow. When they think of the best memories of their childhood as fun activities and things that they’ve learned about Jesus and ways they’ve seen him answer prayers and how they’ve seen him move in their lives, then there’s no talking them out of that. That just builds and grows. Like you mentioned from Deuteronomy, it’s that constant in our lives in every way, acknowledging Him and modeling for Him. Knowing, when I’m frustrated, to ask for forgiveness. You know, when I don’t know what to do, modeling, pausing, and praying with my kids and saying, “Whoa, you know, like our emotions are all high. Let’s all take a step back. Let’s go to Jesus.” You know, let’s walk this back. And so just looking at and living that out, does so much more than any amount of just setting aside Bible study time or going to church activities will ever do.
Candace Nassar (19:48.037)
That’s so good. So what are some of your favorite ways to connect with your kids and strengthen your relationship?
Katie J Trent (19:57.373)
Well, all you have to do is look at my books to know that baking is probably one of our number one ways that we’ve found that we love to connect with the Lord and with each other. We love to just be in the kitchen together. I’m a terrible cook though, so you know, if I come over to dinner, I’m bringing dessert. People always assume.
Candace Nassar (20:07.523)
That’s so funny. I’m the complete opposite. I’m the cook and not the baker. So we would make a great team.
Katie J Trent (20:18.805)
Perfect, so see we just have to have dinner together. Yes, it’s perfect. Exactly. So, you know, I don’t do the cooking. My husband and my daughter, you know, usually do that. But we love to bake. We love to do simple crafts and just really take time whatever we’re doing to acknowledge our Creator. You know, going on a walk and just being like, “Wow, look at the sky that God painted for us today.” You know, my son, he loves all things, creatures and animals and creepy crawlies, you know, and so looking at that and just saying like, “Wow, how amazing did God make this ant and how much more does He love you and specifically created and designed you?” And so anything where we can just kind of get together and connect and have fun, we love to do that.
Candace Nassar (21:01.303)
That’s great. I know you have some fun adventures. Are there some adventures you can share with us?
Katie J Trent (21:11.231)
Yeah, so one of the ones that I really love and was a big hit with my kids is we actually do a flashlight walk and you can do it inside or outside depending on where you’re at. But we’re talking about letting Jesus lead and we’re talking about the stars and how they led the Magi to Jesus, right? And so that’s a fun one because the kids love to turn off all the lights or be outside and kind of follow the light themselves. And then we talk about even, you know, if you’re further away from the light, it’s harder to see it. But if you stay close to the light, then it’s really easy to let Jesus lead.
You know, so they’re all things like that that are simple and meaningful ways to show your kids a biblical truth. We like to do some crafts and so they’re, you know, like making ornaments for the tree or coloring ornaments is one of them. I’m trying to think of others. There’s lots of things, you know. There is baking treats, there’s writing Christmas cards, you know, different ways I think to show thatI’m trying to think of others.
There are different ways. We hear the word “evangelism” and it’s very scary. That is a scary word for most Christians but evangelism really is sharing the love and truth of Jesus and so you can write Christmas cards and share the love of Jesus. You can pray over the Christmas cards you receive and make that your daily prayer wall. Mmm. That’s such a good one. Yeah, we talked about how even singing Christmas carols, going door to door or going to a hospital or an elderly home, or whatever it may be, and singing gospel songs. Singing the Christmas carols, sharing the gospel story with others is a great way and then invite them to church or pray for them or whatever it may be. But there’s lots of very simple ways like that to help your kids actually begin to evangelize and share the love of Jesus in very practical, simple ways, no matter what their age.
Candace Nassar (22:59.133)
That’s really fun. So any other things you would like to encourage our moms with today as we enter into Advent Christmas, just thinking about, I mean, I know I just looked this morning at a picture of my Christmas tree from last year with all the presents around it and part of me got excited and then part of me went, my gosh, you know? And we talked about what to do if we’re overwhelmed. Anyway, what would you love to say, one more thing, to these moms, to our listeners?
Katie J Trent (23:00.454)
Yes, yep, yep.
Katie J Trent (23:32.66)
I would just say you have been given such an incredible gift to be a mother and I think it’s easy to kind of forget that God created us naturally as teachers and nurturers and disciplers. And so don’t be afraid to really own and embrace that and know that God wants to use you in powerful ways to minister to your children and equip them and encourage them. And it’s not as scary or hard as you think. And I have lots of resources. If you’re panicking, you know, I’m happy to help you and walk alongside you. As I know, Candace is. There are so many great resources around for you. So you’re not alone. and it just takes one step and then give yourself grace. That would probably be my number one piece of advice is give yourself grace. I can tell you we’ve done Advent devotionals now, like I said, probably at least six, seven years and I have never once gotten perfect attendance on my Advent devotional. . We skip them sometimes if we really like it or it’s one of those where it has to build, then we might try and read a couple in a day. Even with my own kids last year, we didn’t do all the activities in the book. It’s just a beautiful thing you can do over and over again and do what you can and don’t worry about it till the next year. So don’t stress it, you know, give yourself grace and remember that God’s grace is sufficient for all the ways that we fall short because we all fall short every single day.
Candace Nassar (25:02.801)
Absolutely, absolutely. And another piece of advice is stay off of Pinterest and social media. Just for me personally, I’m not crafty. And so when I start looking at all that, I just want to compare myself. This is a time of year when there are people who are doing just crazy awesome things. And you know, I’m also a reformed perfectionist. So just letting all of those things go and like you said, focus on the relationships and the traditions and the time with your kids and just pray, pray, pray. So absolutely.
Katie J Trent (25:30.128)
Absolutely. And I call myself a Pinterest dropout. People always think because my whole mission is putting the fun back in the fundamentals of family discipleship that I’m somehow a really fun mom. But the opposite is actually true. I am not a fun mom. And I cried out to Jesus and said, “Lord, help me.” And these resources were created for me and they just happened to bless other people. absolutely stay off Pinterest and don’t worry. Your kids just want you. Yeah, your attention. They want your affection. They want your conversations and they don’t need all the crazy things that are being posted on Instagram or Pinterest.
Candace Nassart (25:58.536)
Amen. So how can we learn more about your resources?
Katie J Trent (26:14.01)
So you’ll find me at katjtrend.com and it’s k-a-t-i-e-j-t-r-e-n-t.com. So I’ve got everything from the discipleship courses and community and free resources all on there. And then you’ll find me on social media at katjtrend as well.
Candace Nassar (26:14.592)
Okay. Great. Well, we will put that in our show notes. I thank you so much for this conversation today, Katie. It’s really encouraging and inspiring and I wish you the best. Thank you so much.
Katie J Trent (26:41.822)
Thank you so much.
