christmas

Yes, you read that right. I've already got Christmas on the brain. Mostly because it is the best holiday EVER, but also because this year I'm hoping to start a couple of new family traditions which will need a little preparation. For me the hardest part of Christmas is to make sure our focus stays on Christ and not get caught up in the rest. Don't get me wrong, I see no problem in giving gifts, having parties and all the other fun things but we want to be making an effort to teach the boys that Christmas is first and foremost about the Christ Child. Christmas is many things to many people but to me it is the celebration of Christ's birth. A good friend, who also served in a country that doesn't celebrate Christmas, gave me a couple of good ideas of things to do to help keep the focus of Christmas but also make it fun for children.

St. Nicholas Day-

This is the traditional spin on Santa Claus. We have never done Santa with our boys but I always wanted to be sure to teach where that tradition came from. The main reason I didn't want to do Santa was because I feel like it emphasizes gifts rather than THE gift. Of course I think there is a definite way to teach this and make it a part of our tradition without taking away from Christ's birth. St. Nicholas Day is traditionally on December 6th so we can do the whole treats in the stocking thing (the tradition calls for shoes but I want to use the boy's stockings) and have it be totally separate from Christmas.

Jesse Tree Advent Calendar-

There are several versions of this on the internet but the one that I like the best uses the Geneology of Christ as the basis for an Advent calendar. I am going to get a small tree and each day the boys will unwrap a new ornament for the tree. Each ornament will represent a different person in the geneology and we will read their story from the Bible and show how it points to the coming of Christ. I'm really excited about this but I'll probably have to make most of the ornaments by hand so I need to get busy.

Epiphany-

This is a small thing but I think it would be really neat to celebrate the Magi coming to see Christ on January 6th, the day of Epiphany. In the past this has been a day to commemorate their visit to Christ. My friend told me that in their family the Wise Men in their nativity set starts at the total opposite end of their house and throughout December and the first few days of January they slowly make their way to visit Christ in the manger.

I'm really excited about how we can use St. Nicholas Day to have fun and teach about several traditions that lead to what is now the modern Santa Claus in American and the Jesse Tree and Epiphany to teach the truths of the Bible. Most of all I'm really excited to get an early start on the most wonderful time of the year!