Comments on Kisses of Sunshine: Christmas ... It's not that far away!

Over the last 10 years or so I'd really grown to h...

2006-10-24T03:01:24.920-04:00

Over the last 10 years or so I'd really grown to hate Christmas. I know that sounds horrible but because of the over-commercialization (if that's a word) and the fact that as we began having children we also began having less money at Christmas. The financial issue in the midst of the STUFF just made money so much the focus and that frustrated me sooo very much to the point that I dreaded Christmas, couldn't wait until it was over.
Last year someone gave us an Advent wreath along with scriptures to read each night and we actually made the Christ (white) candle so that was very special.
This made all the difference for me - beginning several weeks before Christmas and each and every night we were all eager for the time to light the candles after dinner and pray and read scripture together!
For this reason I am excited about Christmas - we don't have any more money than we usually do this time of year BUT we do have a different focus - JESUS!

It CAN be done. We didn't want to remove Santa fr...

2006-10-19T07:38:04.403-04:00

It CAN be done. We didn't want to remove Santa from the equation altogether, but I certainly didn't want him to be the focus. So, from the time my daughter knew about Christmas, we just downplayed the big jolly man. She did have her picture taken with Santa (I love the tradition), but didn't talk about what Santa was bringing her etc etc. And yes, I hate everyone asking about the Santa thing--strangers in the store in Nov. When she was 4 or 5 years old, the dental hygeniest (in Nov.!) asked her about what Santa was going to bring her. She looked at me, and said, "Santa's just pretend. Right, Mommy?" I was sort of floored, because it was exactly the response I wanted, but I never had to have the chat that he was pretend and some of her friends thought he was real etc etc.

Hi there! I've read your blog a bit over the past...

2006-10-15T22:50:34.483-04:00

Hi there! I've read your blog a bit over the past month or two - but have never commented. My husband and I are in a little bit of a different situation - while we are Christians, we do not celebrate Christmas in a religious way. We believe that we celebrate Christ's life every day - and particularly on Sunday when we celebrate his life, death, and resurrection through the Lord's supper. We do not do nativities or "happy birthday Jesus" cakes, or the like. Instead, we choose to celebrate these things every day and focus on them in depth each Sunday. (we don't do "Easter" either - "Easter" for us is every Sunday). We obviously don't condemn others who do keep these days, but as they are not Scripturally binding, we choose not to (Romans 14:5 & Col. 2:16&17).

That being said: the whole idea of Santa has always seemed to me kind of "dangerous" - in that we teach our children that their is the man, who lives at the top of the world, who sees everything and knows everything, who cares how we act, who can grant us our deepest desires. Sounds a lot like God! Then...when they are a certain age, we tell them that, "Of course Santa's not real. How could you believe that?? Those things aren't possible!", yet we fully expect them to keep believing in God. Now, I grew up believing in Santa, and I am still a believer in God - so don't get me wrong. But in our family, we are choosing not to go the Santa route. Our son will know the Santa "figure", and we might reference him, watch Santa movies, etc., but he will always know that gifts come from dad & mom because of the goodness of God.

Anyway - just my two cents! I love all the conversation in the blogging world about how to incorporate Christ into our holidays - but I think what really should be under discussion is how to incorporate Christ into EVERY day!! =)

I LOVE this Homemade Gift Idea Exchange. Perfect. ...

2006-10-15T19:31:40.686-04:00

I LOVE this Homemade Gift Idea Exchange. Perfect. I have never visited your post before but am so glad I stopped by! I'll be back!

God Bless!

Growing up, I always loved the time when my brothe...

2006-10-15T16:11:13.843-04:00

Growing up, I always loved the time when my brothers, sisters and I would make our own Christmas cards with crayons and bond paper. I still love doing my own greeting cards—except for one thing. Instead of crayons and bond paper, I use Photoshop and Painter.

My 3-year old is embracing the practice. He won’t go to a birthday party unless he draws his birthday card first.

Mike
http://somethingaboutparenting.typepad.com/

My daughter is only three, but we've never really ...

2006-10-15T11:09:28.553-04:00

My daughter is only three, but we've never really mentioned anything about Santa in the context of presents. When people ask her what Santa is bringing her she just looks confused. Santa is a decorating idea, like there a lot of flags out at the fourth of July or pumpkins in October.

We have cupcakes for breakfast on Christmas morning and have a little birthday party for Jesus before we open presents. It's fun and feels decadent and also helps her remember that the presents are because of his birthday rather than anything else.

Hi GiBee,I'm SOOOO with you on this one (anti-Sant...

2006-10-14T19:36:32.186-04:00

Hi GiBee,

I'm SOOOO with you on this one (anti-Santa sentiments)! I feel the same way about Easter, which is my favorite holiday, and big pink bunnies get the attention...not in my world, they don't!!! I think much of the struggle of the Christian life is to maintain just that: CHRIST in our life -- many times in the face of societal pressures and even "innocent" traditions like Santa Claus. I used to be vehemently opposed to anything Santa Claus, but since watching "The Lion, Witch, and Wardrobe," I've reconsidered a teeny-weeny bit. C.S. Lewis masterfully used the IDEA of Santa to emphasize the TRUTH of Christ. So now, Santa doesn't bug me like he used to. However, his image still won't be decking my halls!!! Thanks for a great post.

Nice post! We have a book called "Santa's Favorite...

2006-10-14T03:27:19.516-04:00

Nice post! We have a book called "Santa's Favorite Story." In the book, Santa tells about the birth of Christ. It's very effective. Blessings!

I got a cool "book" from Costco when the kids were...

2006-10-13T19:00:12.600-04:00

I got a cool "book" from Costco when the kids were little. Two front flaps open to reveal a bunch of tiny little board books number 1-25 with a little gold ribbon looped into each. Each book contains about a sentence or two from the Christmas story. After reading one each day we hung it on a little 2 foot tree or the big tree, depending on our mood that year.

We were like Jeana in that we made a clear distinction between the real St. Nicholaus and the "fairy tale Santa" and the kids knew he was just pretend from when they were little. At home we kept it the true story but they were able to participate in Santa stuff at school, grandparents, etc.

My kids know who the real St Nicholas was and they...

2006-10-13T16:46:41.686-04:00

My kids know who the real St Nicholas was and they know who the "fairy tale" Santa is. I don't ban santa decorations and books, I just make sure they know that it's pretend.

I think you've got some great ideas. The Jesus letter and gift make me a little uncomfortable, because it seems to mix real with pretend. I am pretty hesitant to put words in Jesus mouth or say they came from Him when they didn't. If I were to do a Jesus letter it would have to be pretty much scripture--I wouldn't mind substituting the child's name for "the world" in John 3:16, for example. Beyond that I wouldn't do it, personally.

I guess the other thing is, one reason Scott and I don't do Santa is because we don't want to do anything that even smells like lying. I don't want them to wonder, "If she would lie about that, what else would she lie about?" I want them to know I will always be honest with them; and the Jesus letter seems deceptive to me, claiming he wrote it when he didn't.

Not that you asked me. Well, kind of. Just thought I would throw that out there.

We do the advent wreath, and I love that. We light one new candle each week, but we do it every night that we're home so they get review on what the candle represents. We pray and read scripture to go with that candle. Afterward we sing Christmas songs by candlelight, and it's like a family devotion time.

You have some excellent ideas there. I too loved ...

2006-10-12T20:55:37.850-04:00

You have some excellent ideas there. I too loved Shannon's Jesse tree idea. I honestly had never heard of that before. I'm looking forward to some homemade gift giving ideas too! Laura

Excellent ideas. I plan to blog about our Santa-h...

2006-10-12T17:33:38.553-04:00

Excellent ideas. I plan to blog about our Santa-handling in a post when I get back from my blog-break.

Many great ideas here. When I was a child, our fa...

2006-10-12T17:01:34.790-04:00

Many great ideas here. When I was a child, our family read the Christmas story from Luke on Christmas Eve, with hot chocolate and home made cookies, so of course our kids grew up with the same tradition. Also, the Advent wreath, making gifts for family members, making ornaments. Another thing you might consider is annual ornaments. Each of our kids (and now our grandkids) gets an ornament every year. By the time our kids married, they had the beginnings of their own Christmas decorations. We love looking at their trees and remembering the year we bought this or that ornament. Put the year and the person's name on the bottom or back with a paint pen to help jog your memory in later years.

I guess I settled on a combination of both that wo...

2006-10-12T15:23:23.250-04:00

I guess I settled on a combination of both that worked for us. My children knew Santa brought their gifts. But they also knew Christmas is the celebration of the birth of Jesus. Some of our traditions are the same as yours.

We have always done two things (and they became such a tradition we still do them). Christmas Eve we watch A Christmas Carol. I have several versions but our favorite is the one with George C. Scott.

And we read the Christmas story.

Somehow this has always worked for us. Christmas is a happy joyful time but we definitely keep Christ in Christmas.

You have covered so much covered. You have been b...

2006-10-12T15:14:49.383-04:00

You have covered so much covered. You have been busy just putting this post together. Great job too! I can't wait to venture to some of the links you included.
We don't include Santa ornaments or anything like that representing Santa.

What a GREAT idea for a post. So I won't do a com...

2006-10-12T14:33:05.676-04:00

What a GREAT idea for a post. So I won't do a complete post here and crash your comment box. I'll plan on putting up our ideas soon! BUT, I would like to give you a sneek peak. Here is how we deal with Santa.

None of the gifts have ever been from him. Very few of my decorations are Santa and elves. (I'm trying to remember if I even have any. I'm not so sure I do).

We talk about who St. Nicholas really was. He was a man who really lived. He had the heart of giving. When we give gifts we are celebrating that spirit of giving and ultimately celebrating the greatest gift of all... God sending His son.

By talking about Santa this way it has allowed us to not "ban" Santa from Christmas... but to also not have our focus on him. His spirit of giving is just a part... a very small part.

Oh, I am so going to do a complete post on our Christmas traditions. I have so much to share about what we do on almost every item you listed here....

Coming soon....