This holiday season really made The Hubs and I begin talking about what we want Christmas to look like in our home as we start our family. Christmas has been so commercialized in our world and the real meaning (Jesus!) has been forgotten.
We don't want our kiddos growing up thinking that Christmas is all about gifts, Santa and earthly desires. So here are a few things we plan to do with our kids to help them keep the true meaning of Christmas in sight.
1. Read The Christmas Story
What better way to help our kiddos understand why we truly celebrate Christmas than to read them the story of Jesus' birth? We may start out with a book like the one below and as they get older we will read from the Bible. We want this to be something we do every year as a family, snuggled together on the couch reading the story together and praying together to thank God for the greatest gift of all!
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Sorry, this might bother some people but we will probably not have Santa in our home. The Hubs struggled with this because he grew up with Santa and thought it was so fun. But after talking it over we decided we will tell the story of the real Saint Nicholas, because he was actually a pretty cool guy. Our kids just won't think Santa flew around the world to deliver their presents. We will also make sure they are respectful of those kids who do believe in Santa.
3. Minimal Gifts
Christmas in this world we live in seems to be so much about gifts and spending WAY too much money! When kids are little they will have trouble understanding the true meaning so if you are buying them tons of gifts that will naturally overshadow Jesus. It just will. So we are going to adopt the Want, Need, Wear, Read policy for gifts to our kids. We do not want to go overboard and spoil them or break the bank so we will use the following guidelines to get our kids just 4 simple gifts.
Want
Our kids get one thing that they really want! That toy they have been begging for and we keep saying no. Whatever item they have been obsessing over (unless it is incredibly expensive) will be their fun gift!
Need
We will buy our kids something that they have really been needing. Maybe new shoes or a coat or backpack for school. Something we keep saying they need but haven't gone out and gotten yet.
Wear
Something for them to wear. A shirt, hat and gloves or something anything wearable.
Read
A book! Something they will really love and be interested in and will also encourage them to read more!
4. Family Time
While Jesus truly is the reason for the season, the holidays are also a great time to be with family and have special times together that you may not normally have time for. We want our Christmas mornings to be incredibly special for our kids and us. We talked about doing some kind of special breakfast that we only do on Christmas morning and then read the Christmas Story and open presents and spend our morning together, just our little family before we head off to big family events.
Whatever your family does this time of year I challenge you to keep God at the center of it no matter what!
4. Family Time
While Jesus truly is the reason for the season, the holidays are also a great time to be with family and have special times together that you may not normally have time for. We want our Christmas mornings to be incredibly special for our kids and us. We talked about doing some kind of special breakfast that we only do on Christmas morning and then read the Christmas Story and open presents and spend our morning together, just our little family before we head off to big family events.
Whatever your family does this time of year I challenge you to keep God at the center of it no matter what!
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