Why Celebrate Christmas?
As Christmas is quickly approaching, it has been exciting to see all the holiday decorations going up, stores stocking their shelves with gifts, lights magically illuminating homes, and the seasonal music playing in every store and radio station! We all know that this is a busy time of year. If you’re like me, you are already discussing the exact game plan for Christmas day, marking the calendar in every available space for holiday events, buying Christmas gifts, decorating, etc. The list goes on and on. Every year is exciting and every year is busy.
But this year is different for me! No, I’m not saying that it isn’t exciting or that I won’t be busy because we will! (We typically celebrate Christmas SEVEN separate times during the week!)
What IS different this year from any of my other 26 Christmases is that I am now a mom! And with that new role and perspective I have been doing a lot of thinking about what I want Christmas to mean to us and look like for us as a family!
Although there seems to be a certain magic in the air with all the lights, decorations, music, food, family and over all good cheer, I honestly don’t want my son to think only of those things.
My goal is to help him understand WHY we celebrate Christmas and why it is such an important and special holiday!
(I obviously have not had the chance yet to implement any of these ideas or try them for myself but I witnessed my parents doing these things and I hope to as well!)
Ways to Help Children Understand the “Reason for the Season”:
- Tell/Read them the story- And by “story” I mean the story of Jesus coming to Earth as a baby. (This can be found starting in Luke 1:26) Don’t assume your child knows and understands the whole story whether they’ve grown up in church or not. Christmas is the perfect opportunity to clearly introduce (or review) the entire story with your family.
- STOP- Pause to make sure they understand (as best they can depending on their age). See if they have any questions. Clarify any confusion. This is so important! Invite your children to ask you questions!
- Continue the Story- I need to point out that the birth of Jesus is not the end of the Christmas story. If all Christmas was about was some random baby that was supernaturally born of a virgin but lived and died like anyone else we wouldn’t have anything to celebrate. This part is CRUCIAL in helping children (or anyone for that matter) understand the significance of this special holiday! Jesus came as a baby but he grew to be a 33 year old man who ended up taking the punishment we deserve (death). (Luke 23:26)
So in short, we don’t celebrate Christmas because of the gifts, because of the traditions, or even because of a baby. But we celebrate because of WHO that baby really was (our Savior) and what he did for us (He took our punishment so we can know forgiveness and experience eternal life in Heaven with God).
Obviously, it will take some time before my 11 month old understands all this. 🙂 And parents will have to discern how much their child/children can grasp. But ultimately, these are the basic guidelines of how I want to help my son (and any future children) understand why we celebrate Christmas!
I hope this helps you as we near the holidays! Thanks for reading and please leave a comment on how you remember the reason for the season! 🙂
–Jen
