practical Christmas

Revelation 12

I thought Christmas was supposed to be about Jesus.

Brandi and I have been discussing how we are concerned that value of celebrating the birth of Christ may be severely clouded or even totally eclipsed by all of the social and media hype about Santa and presents.  Regardless of how the holiday of Christmas was initiated, the reality is that Christmas is a huge event in our American culture.  And while that culture continues to grow more and more secular (i.e., more and more about Santa and all of the stuff that you want him to give you), it seems to me that the Christmas holiday remains a powerful opportunity to focus on the gift of Christ for the salvation of the world.  And of course, it is impossible to disconnect His birth and life with His death and resurrection (i.e., Easter), but why not take advantage of the opportunity to focus on Christ and the joy and hope that His birth brings to the whole world?

So, with our children, we are planning on continuing to emphasize the celebration of Jesus's birthday.  Some people might think that a birthday party for Jesus is trite, but being the father of a two-year old, it seems to me like a birthday party would be valuable if it is helpful in synchronizing "Christmas" with "Jesus" in Beau's mind.  And while we don't want our children to be the ones that "spoil" the hoax of Santa for other children (especially our nieces and nephews), we want to reiterate the centrality of Jesus in Christmas by giving our children three gifts, as a reminder of Jesus receiving three gifts from the Wise Men.

Hopefully, through these practices, we will help our children focus on Jesus instead of getting caught up in the materialism of our society.

Heavenly Father, help us focus on Jesus.  Help us help our children to focus on Jesus.  Lord, please fill our hearts with joy and peace as we celebrate the birth of Christ.  And help us share this joy and peace with others.  I pray in the name of Jesus.