Last year was Wesley's first Christmas, but I sort of see that as a technicality since he really was too young to have any clue what was going on. This year he is already entranced by everything Christmas - the lights and the "pretties", the trees, the music, the snow, and, *gulp*... Santa. Yesterday we were in a store when he pointed to a Santa figurine and said delightedly, "ho ho ho"! Umm... what?!
His exposure to Santa Claus up to this point has been pretty minimal, or so I thought. We passed by Santa at the mall last week and when he asked who he was, I - preoccupied with trying to navigate the stroller through the Black Friday crowds - said, "That's Santa" distractedly with no explanation. So, when I heard him proclaim "ho ho ho" with such enthusiasm, I was a teeny bit nervous! I mean, it's not even December 1!
I want to be intentional about celebrating Christmas with my kids. I certainly don't want their perception of the holiday to be dictated by mass consumerism and media. It can be hard to wade through the 'truth' of all that, especially for children. I want Christmas, first and foremost, to be about Christ's amazing, glorious birth. About Him coming to the world as a tiny babe for us. I don't want to come across as being "judgey"; that's not my intention at all. I have nothing against people who encourage their kids to believe in Santa, there's lots of fun in it all, but I want to always speak truth into the lives of my children, and, for me, Santa just doesn't fit with that. I think there's a healthy way to approach it - and I'm definitely still mulling over all this - where you can partake in the Santa "fun", but still impart to your kids that he's a character, or fairytale, but not real. How to explain this to a two year old is still boggling my mind a bit at this point, but I'm working on it, and I know where my heart is on the matter.
Wesley is a bit young for this - though I'm going to do it anyway! - but I came across a great advent plan for
The Jesus Storybook Bible (if you don't have this, you need to get it! It's a wonderful Bible for young kids told in 'story' format which points everything in scripture to the birth of Christ. So lovely and with beautiful artwork too!). Basically, there are 21 Old Testament stories which all relate back to Jesus' coming, along with 3 stories about Christ's birth, that you can read leading up to Christmas day. You can find the reading plan
here if you're interested. A great way to keep the holiday focused on the
truth of what it's really about!
Happy 23 days 'til Christmas!
