How to make Jesus the reason for your Season!

Well, Christmas is all over....but I've been meaning to write about how I attempt to keep Jesus at the front of the Christmas season, with family coming next, and with food and presents tying for third place! Here's a few things that I do to keep the kids focused on the real meaning of Christmas.

• Every night from Thanksgiving to Christmas, we read Christmas books....usually, we read 1 to 3 books, and one or more of them is a story that relates back to the birth of Jesus.
• We make a Jesus birthday cake and sing Happy Birthday to Jesus. For little ones especially, they can relate to this. They "get" what a birthday cake is, more than they "get" the story of the manger....as they grow older, the story makes a lot more sense obviously. But, the boys really do love celebrating with Jesus.
• We set up the Fisher Price manger set in their room - so they have their own Baby Jesus. Once or twice, baby Jesus has come under attack from Venom or the Joker, but with a little help from Spiderman, Baby Jesus has always prevailed.
• Three gift rule: The boys get three gifts each, plus a stocking from Santa. If Baby Jesus was fine with three gifts, I think my boys will also survive. Those Wise Men knew what they were doing, why not take a lesson from them?
• We adopt a family, a senior citizen, a child - or someone in need - and the boys help us with the present, and we explain how giving back is truly the best part of Christmas!
• In the car, we have the Christian music station on 90% of the time. The boys have learned so many traditional Christmas songs by listening to this station. I LOVE to hear them sing along.
• Leading up to the big day, we talk about why we're celebrating, why we put a star on top of the tree, why an angel sits atop the manger....I don't sit down and tell them the same story over and over - I give it to them in bits and pieces....and I'm surprised at how much they have picked up on.
• We got asked a lot of questions about Santa this year from Joey....and I, of course, stick with the typical Santa answers that us adults have learned through the years. But, I always tried to also tie it back to Jesus, by saying things like..."You know, Joey, the REAL magic of the Season, is how a baby born that night a long, long time ago came to save us and give us eternal life in heaven - that's the real magic." Once again, Santa is important - but he can also be trumped by the Jesus card.

This year, I looked around at the many blessings my children have - a car to get them to school that doesn't break down, a dishwasher to do their dishes, a stocked toy room, new school clothes and new shoes when they outgrow their current ones, food on the table every night, computers and technology to make our lives more efficient....while these things make parenting much, much easier, in some ways, I feel even more pressure to raise good, gracious, thankful and empathetic children. I want them to know that life is not about what you have in your house, but what you have in your heart.

Every night, when I tuck those boys into bed, there's a reason why I say, "My cup runneth over." I want their cups to be overflowing with love and gratitude and forgiveness, not with toys and games and the latest electronics. I want God's love and our family's love to be "enough." Some day, I hope they will want the same for their children and I hope they let ME do the spoiling then. I'm looking forward to it already!