Since I shared the new passion the Lord has given me, a new thing is taking shape. This is a very small thing but a very important thing as well.
I was discussing this passion for family with the hubs and he suggested that maybe I do a short study during Advent (since the other one will begin in January). One thing that really bugs me is how Jesus part of Christmas. That seems to be difficult for the some families. So, I will be doing a short study- and by short I mean like 3 sessions. I will do this study at the same time we have children's choir on Wednesday nights, therefore, there will only be 3 Wednesday's after Thanksgiving to do it before Christmas Eve.
I will spend one evening discussing the legend of Santa Claus -- I think it is important that parent's know why we do Santa in the first place....
I will spend another evening discussing ways to keep Christ in Christmas with your children.
Last year, K and I began to really make this effort with our kids. We had always done an advent calendar- so that continued. Only, we added reading part of the Christmas story each evening along with the calendar. We also leave Baby Jesus hidden away from our Nativity scene until Christmas morning. Another thing we did last year was have a birthday cake for Jesus after lunch.
**Edited to add: I forgot to say that one other thing that we have begun with our kids is that they get 3 gifts from Santa because that is how many gifts Jesus got from the wisemen. It seems to be working well!**
These things all worked well and I plan to do all of these again.
Here are my questions for you:
** What do you do with your family to keep Christ in Christmas?
**In light of the fact that I only have 2 definite topics and I need a third, anyone have another topic you think would be a good one?
I desperately need your help and all of your friends help! Please leave me your idea's and send your friends here to leave their idea's. (Also - if anyone can be so kind as to tell me how to make this a "sticky note" at the top of my blog, please email me at mindymc5@gmail.com) I am begging.....=)
Thanks in advance for all your help!
One objection or concern that I have heard about Christmas is that it was a one time a pagan holiday. People don't really understand how "Christmas" originated and some have concerns about the symbolism. I think that would be an interesting topic to add to your discussion.
ReplyDeleteI agree.
ReplyDeleteYou could also talk about all of the symbols of Christmas and how they tie in with Christianity. Also good children's books that aren't just about Santa.
I WOULD love to hear your one on why you do Santa...it's such a hot topic in our church.
ReplyDeleteOne thing I struggle with personally is how much STUFF our kids get each year, be it from us or friends or grandparents or...
ReplyDeleteI would love to have a discussion with other parents about balancing true LOVE gift-giving (in celebration of Christ's birthday) with the disproportionate distribution of presents. The boundary has a very fine line that frequently distracts from Jesus, despite our best teachings of Advent.
I love this, Mindy! What a great idea.
ReplyDeleteI think a good topic would be why we celebrate Christmas when we do. It isn't biblical and there are so many things we do that don't match up with scripture (during Christmas) - like the wisemen weren't at the birth of Jesus - they came a long time afterwards. I think talking about things like that would be enlightening to a lot of people.
I'm curious to see what you're 3rd topic will be. This is neat.
We have the kneeling santa as well! He is the first thing that comes out at christmas!
ReplyDeleteThe kids get 3 gifts at christmas to represent the 3 gifts given to Christ ... the gifts are normally a need, a want, and a surprise. they also get a stocking that is from "santa" and Christmas PJ's the night before.
On Christmas Eve we will read the christmas story out of the Bible. Bake a Birthday Cake for Jesus and the tuck them into bed. For breakfsat Christmas morning they get birthday cake for breakfast - the one time they are allowed to do this! - after singing happy birthday to Jesus. then they are allowed to open the wrapped gifts.
We also get an angel off of the angel tree at the mall and as a family pick the angel and then go pick the gift for our angel.
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Hi! thanks for the comment!
ReplyDeleteTo keep Christ in Christmas we always had something that symbolized the real meaning of Christmas in our decor. i.e. The Bible opened to the Christmas story. I also purchased Children's boks about the Christmas Story. My children are now grown and gone so I speak of when they were home. Of course regular church attendance insures that they hear about the REAL meaning and we did that. We also talked about it. Literally straightforward as in - you do know what the real meaning is...then proceed.
I always think a good thing to talk about at Christmas is helping those who are in need. i.e. angel tree, etc. Maybe that could be your third topic... a discussion of agencies, organizations that need our donations, etc. at Christmas. I always stressed this with our children!!
We do a family advent wreath on our table and walk through lighting the candles each Sunday. Also, each of my kids have an "advent jar". Inside the jars are slips of paper written with special things (maybe "draw from the goody bag" or "stay up an extra half hour" or "mom brings you lunch from fav. restaurant"). 24 days of drawing. The older ones basically get dollar tree stuff or gift cards to their favorite lunch haunts. One of the best things we have done as a family.
ReplyDeletepeace~elaine
PS: Would love for you to post some points from your lessons after you've done them. I could use a refresher course!
Here is a short and important article about keeping Christ in Christmas.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.fleebabylon.com/featured/November08.htm
-Jim