As a child I enjoyed using Advent calendars where there was a door to open each day of December until finally it’s Christmas. As I considered beginning this tradition with my children I also began looking for something to connect this tradition with the real reason we were celebrating in the first place. After looking for resources and not seeing what I had in mind I got the idea for Christmas is About Jesus.
I knew I could not control what my children saw as we went about our lives, so I chose to influence what they would think about when they were out. Seeing all the decorations begin to appear in the stores could simply mean opening presents is getting closer. Instead ornaments remind us to show people Jesus. Christmas lights tell us Jesus is The Light. The cookies and fun food remind us Jesus is our very Bread of Life. Each day I chose from things commonly seen around Christmas. I used many of the names of Jesus in my devotions. As we get closer to Christmas you’ll see I also did people from the Christmas story. While they are not things, I think that we see them so often in decorations, nativities, and on Christmas cards they become like things instead of real people. People who loved and served God and we can learn from.
I realize that as long as we live in America I will not be able to completely de-commercialize the Christmas season for my family. We can choose what we focus on. We can choose to be thankful and generous. We can choose to love and serve God.
As part of my idea I created a matching ornament for each devotion. I’ll write more about that next week.
This week’s Countdown to Christmas winner is Kelly. She shared on Kove’s blog how their children learn thankfulness by going through their things and donating some to local charity and knowing they are helping others.
Share with your friends and leave comments on Kove’s blog or Christmas is About Jesus facebook page to enter this week’s drawing.
