photo taken in 2009: one of my favorite ornaments on our gold tree
one of the areas where matt and i have not done a good job over the years is sharing with the spencer the real meaning of christmas, particularly from a biblical perspective. i recently read a post over at one of my favorite blogs, the MOB society ("MOB" stands for "Mother Of Boys"...if you have a son and are a christian - i highly recommend this blog).
the post explains how one mother reads the christmas story to her children on christmas morning when they come downstairs, before opening any gifts. the adults enjoy their coffee and the kids each get a cup of hot cocoa. the kids love it. if we did this to spener right now, we'd be greeted with sighs and eye-rolling. that means that we, as parents, have done something terribly wrong.
i'm still mulling over this, and i don't know if christmas morning is *the* time for this, as i've heard a lot of great ideas for bringing in the christmas story. but, i do love this idea and i'm leaning towards implementing it. i love how it keeps the focus on jesus that special day. i love that it allows the kids to settle down and gather themselves before diving into the gifts, hopefully putting the day into a better perspective. will we do it this year? next year when coleman's a little older? we'll see...
i'm also wondering -- do parents share a "straight from the bible" version of the story or a more kid-friendly version that might be easier for younger children to understand?
how do you incorporate the birth of jesus into your holiday season, particularly with your children?
***twelve days of christmas traditions***
from december 13 to 24, i am featuring christmas traditions here on my blog.
most of these are ones in which my family personally participates.
i encourage you to comment with your own holiday traditions. it's something i adore hearing!
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Hi! I thought I could just offer what I have been doing as another mother of boys. My son is almost 4 now, and we are expecting our second son in April. Last year when he was 2, I thought it was a good time to start incorporating the true meaning of Cnristmas into our traditions. We still do Santa, but I do want him to understand why we celebrate Christmas. I purchased the movie based on Max Lucado's "The Crippled Lamb" which is a cute little story about the first Christmas night. Evan is a pretty calm child and will watch a whole movie with me. We talked about Jesus after the movie and about how he loves us. We did this again this year. If your son is older, he may be ready for a more grown up version of the story, like The Nativity Story. Anyway, when I was growing up we did always read the Christmas story before opening presents on Christmas morning...my dad was a pastor. Last Christmas, my parents came here so when all the grandkids came over to open presents, we had my dad read the Christmas story from my old Children's Bible story book...all of the kids were 5 and under so I thought that was more appropriate. Hope this gives you some ideas! Merry Christmas!
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