As a Christian, it can be difficult to know which traditions that come along with Christmas are good for our family to embrace. Should we believe in Santa? Should we have Christmas tree? Christina made some suggestions. and shared her heart on the matter…
*The Christmas Tree — Her familiy decided they could make the Christmas tree part of Jesus. I didn\’t get all the details, but her husband created a \”diagram\” of a Christmas tree and showed how even a Christmas tree can be a reminder instead of a seasonal distraction. Here\’s what I remember: The tree base represents the Bible which is the foundation for their family, the lights represent the \”light of Jesus\”, the ornaments represent the fruit of the spirit… They have kept that red piece of construction paper for many years and pull it out every year.
*A neat idea for Christmas dinner or any holiday, is have each child present part of the meal, let them choose a dish, help make it, etc…
*What about presents? This is always a hard one. I talked with friends last night about what their families do. There many factors to consider, namely - budget! Christina and her husband decided to go with 3 presents for each child (representing the 3 Wise Men), and then she\’d go nuts on the stockings (abundant life!!!). I heard one woman share (she has 6 or 7 kids) that they give 2 presents. They give the child something they want and then something they need. It\’s neat to hear the different choices people make. I still don\’t know what we\’ll do, but I\’m certain that the budget factor will be quite the director in that decision!!!
*How about Santa? My kids believe in Santa and I\’m not concerned it\’ll harm their little psyches. I worked through it without any trauma:) They are also learning why our family celebrates Christmas. It is important to us that our children know we celebrate this holiday because Christ was born, that need to be a bigger deal…
I disagree with the santa thing. (Just my personal opinion.) I just can’t justify lying to my kids and having to explain to them someday that I lied all those years. I think my other problem is also personal stuff with growing up. All my friends “got” video games, bikes and super cool stuff from “santa” and I got socks. I always felt horribly left out by Santa and resented him. One year, my parents thought it would be funny to put a bag of sand in “daddy’s” stocking. We were traumatized thinking what daddy could have done that was SOOO bad, that he would get sand, and we would get candy! That was the year my parents had to explain it to me.
I guess all I’m saying is that if you are going to do Santa, do it very carefully. We are teaching our kids that the idea of “santa” came from a real life story and that it\’s just our way of reminding ourselves of the kindness of others.
You don’t have to post this on your comments if you don’t want to. I just wanted to give you a little of my personal insight, also being a Christian mom wondering.
Thank you for your thoughts Froggie. I appreciate your perspective and your heart behind it. I certainly see why you have chosen your stance on the \”Santa Issue\”. Thank you for your sensitivity to my opinion. I wanted to post yours because you have a great point that should be noted.
Our family is not \”set in stone\” over this. I do know that above all the hoopla that can set in, we want to focus on the fact we are celebrating Christ\’s birth, and as you said, \”reminding ourselves of the kindness of others.\”