A little something about the Christmas spirit.

Christmas will soon be here and the retail stores make sure to have a jolly Christmas spirit. The thought of how to approach Christmas was never something I really dwelled on very much until I had children.

How does one present Christmas to them? Should we continue the tradition of Santa Claus the fairytale, the theme that Christmas is a happy one if one gets several presents, and perhaps that one should have good will to all during this festive season? I'm not being sarcastic. I'm serious.
These are questions I started to seriously consider. How was I to raise them to honor God during this holiday and yet build wonderful thoughts and memories about what Christmas really meant?

I started out with the easiest one for me. I ditched Santa right from the start. As a matter of fact, my kids call him Jingle Bells because the little ones forget his well-known name to this day. (Though we have respect for the original man called Nicholas.) I decided he was not going to get one ounce of glory from us, since he had nothing to do with salvation.

The others have not been so easy to deal with though. The hardest would have to be the great emphasis on presents. God the Father gave His utmost gift to us by letting His Son become man for us that He would save us. Jesus gave His life willingly. He forgave willingly. He gave up His home on high willingly. I've often thought that when they get older, I would like to begin taking them to places like orphanages/children's homes or soup kitchens to help on or during the Christmas season. I want them to see that Jesus came to serve, not to be served. That Christmas if celebrated correctly should be a time to demostrate His love through us. All this said, we've kept the gifts to a minimum of 1-3 presents per child, some years slightly more and some years less. We try to get them something they like and something they need. This is hard to do sometimes because I think of the nice things that I could give them. But it grieves my heart to think that they'll grow up and leave Jesus on the side as a religious afterthought compared to Santa, presents, etc.

Christmas music plays in our home any time of the year. It really does. It could be April or September and you might just hear it were you to call me or visit. During this time, the children love to take the manger out and position the pieces just as if they were setting up the stage for that great day long ago. We listen to Adventures in Odyssey's episodes about Christmas. We go and visit churches that have excellent Christmas plays about the birth of Christ. One year the children participated in the Best Christmas Pageant Ever production in our town. I want them to remember us remembering Jesus. I want them to desire Him like the faithful did long ago in that little town of Bethlehem. I want them to look for and find the Messiah . To seek Him out. I want them to see what I see and hear what I hear, and many others like me. To look into the eyes of the Saviour, and forever be changed.

Jesus is the Reason for the Season. Let this be your guide in making Christmas a wonderful season to remember.