You might remember that last year Scott was quite entertaining and distracting during the children's Christmas program. He was checking out the presents under the tree, digging through the blankets to see baby Jesus and even managed to pick his nose - all of this in front of a packed church. Thankfully, this year the setting was different and my kids have each grown a little bit. I was quite thankful for a quiet little boy who stood on stage when he needed to and he wasn't distracted by presents, babies or boogies!
The kids are growing quickly of course. This year they're grasping the idea of presents much more. This also means that we have to make much more of an effort to help them understand that we celebrate Christmas as the birthday of a conquering King. We've been reading through the nativity story, talking about Jesus' birth, etc. But when it comes down to it in 10 days (Scott is counting down all by himself), it will be easy to be distracted with too much food and lots of presents. How do we make sure we don't talk about the reason for the season all season long and then ignore it on Christmas day? What do you incorporate into Christmas Day to help little ones focus on giving and celebrating Jesus' birthday?
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3 comments:
How about a birthday cake for Baby Jesus?
If you don't want to do a cake, maybe just let them blow out a birthday candle?
Dad asks every time the topic of presents comes up, "Why do we give each other presents at Christmas?" Answer: Because God gave us the greatest gift in the world when He gave us Jesus, who came to earth to save us. Who knows if he understands or not.
Manolo was completey upset by the idea that there are so many pics/images/representations of Santa Claus around but none of Jesus or the 3 Kings in the malls/stores/etc. I had a hard time explaining to him that yes we do realize that the reason for Christmas is because Jesus was born but no we don't do much as a culture around his birthday. It's mostly about Santa Claus to most families. In Spain they don't even give gifts on xmas (xmas is a giant bday party for Jesus). They give gifts on 6 of January (the day the 3 Kings gave gifts to Jesus).
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