How can we honor Christ as we prepare for Christmas?

This morning I told Rachel a story about a little girl and her birthday party.  There were beautiful decorations, the very best food was prepared, everyone was dressed up, and there were presents everywhere!  Rachel's eyes lit up as she imagined the scene.

But I told her that something very sad happened next.  Even though it was the little girl's birthday, no one paid any attention to her.  No one spoke to her or seemed to care that she was even there.  The grown ups excitedly chattered about how great the party was and they complimented themselves for the delicious food and all of their efforts.  When it was time to open presents, she sadly discovered that not a single one was for her. 

Rachel's eyes widened with the injustice of it all.  She couldn't imagine that anyone would treat this poor birthday girl so cruelly.  And while I had her full attention, I explained that that's what happens to Jesus so often on Christmas Day.  Even though Christmas is supposed to be a celebration of Jesus' birthday, he is often sadly forgotten.  I told her that if we're not intentional, it could happen in our home too.

It saddens me that even though I love Jesus, it is so easy for me to get swept away in the preparation, the buying, the wrapping, the baking...

So as Matt and I begin to form traditions with our young family, we are asking hard questions about the way we celebrate and why.  How can we honor God and make Christmas about the One who it is truly about?

Like we so often do when considering something, we took out pen and paper and made a list of ideas.  I humbly share these ideas with you not because we have it all together, but because I am so burdened by what Christmas has become, and I am so alarmed by how I can almost robotically fall into it year after year.

How can we be intentional about honoring Christ this Christmas through meaningful traditions that involve the children?
1. Celebrate Advent with a Jesse tree each day of December!  The children really look forward to this nightly tradition.  It's short and sweet and perfect for little attention spans.
2. Focus more on giving rather than receiving and let the children help!  This year we baked for a bake sale whose proceeds will help build a school for our missionaries in India.  Baking with a 4 year old and 2 year old is definitely a lot more messy, but they had a blast and it gave me an opportunity to talk to them about children in need.
3. Prepare a Voice of the Martyrs Action Pack!  Choose a country (Iraq, Pakistan, or Sudan) and receive a vacuum bag from VOM and a list of suggested items to fill it with - blankets, clothes, sheets, etc.  After you mail your action pack back to VOM, it will be sent to a person in that country who has far less than we could ever imagine.  This is our gift to my in-laws.  It's not a gift for them, but they are so blessed to know that someone in great need will receive blankets, clothes, a Gospel storybook, and other necessary items.
4. Send an extra Christmas gift and letter to the missionaries or Compassion child you support.
5. Shop with your children for Toys for Tots or participate in a Giving Tree at your local church.  Our Giving Tree supports local families in need.  It's always fun to shop for children the same age as my children.  They get really excited about the gifts we pick out and the amount of compassion a small child can display is humbling and inspiring!
6. Reach out.  Every year we bake cookies with another family and give them to our neighbors as we Christmas carol!  (And no, we don't sing well, but we do it anyway - haha!)

We're still working out ideas for what we can do on Christmas Day, so that post is coming soon.  What do you do in preparation or on the day of Christmas to make Jesus first?  We need ideas!

Jesus Tree and other Lent Ideas

During the Christmas season, our family has a wonderful time observing Advent, so I wanted to do something more during the period of time leading up to Easter Sunday, which I will refer to as Lent. It is a very Biblical idea to pass along church teachings to our children using celebrations, Exodus and Deuteronomy are examples of this. It is a practical way to teach our faith to our children, in addition to our living out the Gospel daily.

Maybe it is just my personal experience, but Lent seems to be seriously lacking. At our church all my children received something to take home to prepare their little hearts for celebrating Christ's birth, but they have got nothing so far in preparation for celebrating the Resurrection or in remembrance of Good Friday. I am not being judgmental here, I am just stating the fact. There really is not much our there to give out, just do a search for yourself on Amazon, Advent books verses Lent/Easter. There are lots more resources for families and children about Advent. Why do Protestants do Advent and not Lent? Should Easter be outdone by Christmas? Oh, well, here are some ideas I have found. May they be a blessing to you during this special time of year.

So here are some ideas for a Jesus Tree:
Jesus Tree (read about this on Building Cathedrals) - You can buy a kit here, but I was not crazy over the idea of cutting so much felt. I also found two lists - List 1*, List 2. From here, you could make your own. I was thinking of printing out pictures and laminating them to string them onto a tree or banner. Any suggestions from you crafty people out there would be most welcome!

Here is a good quote from List 1~

The exciting thing about starting small is that each ornament is given the family’s full attention. Every year the family can add new ornaments, and Mom does not need to feel that the producing of Easter tree ornaments has taken over her life!

We usually use Resurrection eggs*, which are great too - though there are just 12 eggs to open. My children have always enjoyed the little items in each egg.

This one I am really excited about, Passion Hymns for a Kid's Heart by Bobbie Wolguemuth and Joni Eareckson Tada. The book contains 12 hymns. Each hymn has a devotional with an illustrated picture, simple piano sheet music with guitar chords, Bible verse for memorization, and a prayer. It includes a cd too. My husband has brilliantly found that singing the great hymns are a wonderful way to do a family Bible time with our 8 and under crew. We will probably use one song a week from this book, so the kids will really learn it. I will use our circle time to teach them the song, and we will sing it as a family Sunday evening, perhaps adding the devotional, prayer and scripture review than as well.

Mission Possible is a small and inexpensive($2.99) booklet by Charles Swindoll, which is a 40 day adventure with Jesus (adapted from Walk with Jesus: A 40-day Journey to the Cross and Beyond $1.99). Each adventure has a scripture reading with an explanation and facts. Well either use this just for Ms. G to do on her own during her personal morning devotional, or by all of us during our circle time as a read aloud. I think we will read the booklet at circle time, and Grace will read the scripture that goes with it during her devotional, since I think the readings would be too long for the boys. Since it is a 40 day study about the cross, it is perfect fit for the traditional Lent period.

Please share how your family prepares for Easter.

Previous post on the subject

*FYI This site has google ads on it with some weird "Christian" ads/links - the one for Armageddon is one example. So, I just wanted to make clear for my conscience's sack that I am only endorsing the article, not the ads ;-)

Artwork~
The Raising of the Cross c. 1633 by Rembrandt

How Are You Preparing for Easter?

Life whizzes right by me. Holidays come quickly, and I never get around to preparing much for them. Easter is one of the most important holidays in the Christian year. It is something we should prepare our hearts for. At Christmas time there seems to be so many Advent calendars and books on preparing your family to celebrate the important holiday. But what about preparing our hearts and minds for Easter Sunday? Were would our hope be as Christians without the Resurrection of Jesus Christ?

Tonight I spent much time searching the world wide web. Of course, I ordered some books - my standard answer to any problem, hence the many bookcases in our home. Hopefully when they come, I will have some more answers to pass on. Overnight I will sleep on the idea of making a Jesus Tree, better late than never. Perhaps tomorrow I will get around to posting about a few ways to make one. It is times like these that I wish I was as crafty as Sara and Catherine. :) I really want to something in addition to our normal resurrection eggs.

Personally, I think I am going to read my husband's copy of Martin Luther's Easter Book in addition of my normal Bible reading and prayer time.

How do you prepare yourself and your family for the coming celebrations of Good Friday and Resurrection Sunday?

Love Messages

This year for Valentine's Day my husband and I are starting a new tradition. Instead of buying each other cards for birthdays, mother's/father's day, anniversaries and of course Valentine's Day, we are going to write each other messages in a journal. We end up just getting the same cards away. This will be simpler, an easier keepsake to keep, a lot less expensive and much more meaningful. I was hoping to pick it out together on a Valentine's date, which we are hoping will actually be on tomorrow.

As a side note, we try to celebrate Valentine's Day by focusing on God's love for us instead of having a romantic love, so we usually go out to eat as a family. This helps keep the focus on God, and not imbeding in the children the need for a romantic partner to fill apart of this holiday (I know they are young, but this is when their ideals form). Of course my husband and I go on a date, but we fine it more fun to go out to eat when it is not so crowded. It is something our children should see us do regularly away, not just on Valentine's Day.

A Simple Christmas

Like most area's of my families' life, Christmas needs to be simplified as well. Every year I try to make it more simple so that we can draw closer to Christ. This is just my own opinion, but I think less is more for the holidays. It makes more fun and enjoyable for all.

This year to simplify gift giving I gave all the Grandparents, Aunts and Uncles the same present, which was a photo album from Shutterfly. The grandparents will receive a large album and the Aunts and Uncle ( our brother and sisters ) a small 8 X 8 album. The project only took me a few nights thanks to Shutterfly's storyboard feature. It also helped that I regularly upload my photos during the year. All the albums are identical, so I only had to make one. This makes a good present because it is not something they can buy themselves, and there is not too much else for me to get them because they buy what they want for themselves.

One thing we are doing again this year that has worked very well in the past is that each child only gets 3 presents from us and there is 1 large family present. Their relatives give them their presents at different times, so this is pretty much all they open on Christmas morning. For the three presents, my husband and I give one large ($30 tops), one medium and one small. This allows us to take a slow pace and open one present at a time, watching another family member open their gift. Limiting the gifts really helps to make Christmas morning more enjoyable.

How do you simplify Chritmas?

It is Enough to Make You Batty

On this post-Halloween day, I have a lot to ponder about this ridiculous holiday. First off, I do have the dilemma of what to call it. Some people I know call it the Harvest Festival, Fall Festival or simply the "day the Lord has made." However, I just feel silly calling it by any other name, it is what it is. Is that wrong?

I do believe God can take something the world meant for evil and use it for His glory. There are a lot of pagan traditions that we revamp for the Church's purpose - like the Christmas Tree. In some form Old Tannenbaum, had been worshiped by pagans, but the Christian Church has assimilated it into our celebration of Christ's birth. It now symbolizes everlasting life - possible through Jesus Christ. Even the time of year we celebrate Christmas was decided based on a pagan holiday. So, I think it is the heart that matters - i.e. I am not worshiping the Christmas Tree. Also, a measure of caution is a good idea too - i.e. is it honoring to God? Personally, as long as I have a Christmas Tree, I think we will have fun with Halloween in a God honoring way.

Which brings me to my next thought, if you feel God does not want you to participate in Halloween, then you should not. However, it might be o.k. for someone else, so do not judge others, but be peace-makers. This issue brings to mind the scripture of Romans 14, particularly verses 14 through 19. This is where it speaks of differences between the Jews and Gentiles in regards to food laws. Also, do not pressure yourself into not participating in Halloween (like trick-o-treating), just to appear holy or spiritual to those around you and yourself. Nor out of the pleasure we get by judgmentally saying to others, "We do NOT celebrate Halloween." Those are actions the Pharisees would have displayed proudly. We all can admit, myself included, to that uplifting feeling we get from putting others down below us. Last night I caught myself doing this silently a number of times in regards to some of the costumes I saw at church's festival. One good example that sums up the thought of this paragraph is when once, out of Christian concern for my daughter, I asked a much respected couple with older children if they let their daughters play with Barbie dolls when they were younger. The husband sarcastically replied, "Only on Halloween."
For Halloween we buy or make inexpensive costumes. After all, it is not really a wise use of our money to buy something expensive if they are only going to wear it once. I never buy a new costume unless it is on clearance - by buying next years costume this year. Playing dress up year 'round is a great way for a little one to spend their time too! Do not forget buy used, save the difference. A costume is a great item to buy used at a thrift store. Family Fun magazine always has wonderful costume ideas that are simple to make for those of us that are low on time and lack crafting skills like myself. My oldest son is fascinated by bats, so it was his wish to dress up as a bat. The costume was easy and inexpensive to make.On the "day", we have a couple from church that are close friends of ours over for dinner and trick or treat with the kids. Since their kids have out grown it, they really like reliving that phase of their life. It is another chance to build a relationships between us. We only go to the houses on our street - i.e. people we know. This takes care of the whole taking candy from strangers. This does not take much time, but it is plenty long enough for the kids because they are more excited to go to our church's fall festival. Our church has an annual festival on October 31st as an alternative to Halloween. Here they win candy, hear the Gospel at the Gospel House and see a Bible based puppet show. They also get to spend time with other kids from church and the community, as well as we get to spend time as a family. Last night it was great to see several families from our homeschooling co-op. Believe me, the kids are not deprived - I think we still have some candy from last Halloween!

Forgot to clarify what I mean by participating in Halloween. What I do NOT mean is any behavior that glorifies Satin and goes against the teachings of the Bible - like witchcraft, immodest dress or divination. What I do mean is the secular, modern version of Halloween - like trick-o-treating, handing out candy to children, and dressing up.