A Christ-Centered Christmas- Some Ideas and Resources

As the Christmas season approaches quickly, I am reminded of how we must make Jesus the focus of all our celebrations. In our family, it is the month before Christmas day that we all anticipate the entire year. It is during this time that we can lay the foundations for a Christ centered Christmas in the hearts of our children.

When my oldest children were very small I began to develop traditions that my kids would look forward to as they grew older.

God has given us the Christmas season as an opportunity to teach, instruct, and meditate on the birth of Christ as well as to reach out to neighbors and non-Christians at this specially receptive time .Years ago, I found a set of Nativity cookie cutters in our local Christian bookstore. Ever since we use it every year to bake sugar cookies for our neighbors. Each child gets to make a whole set of 8, cutting them out and decorating them. We then arrange them on a foil covered piece of cardboard , sticking them down with frosting, then cover with saran wrap, put on a bow and tape a Christmas tract with a clear Gospel message in it and deliver them to our neighbors. This is now a great opportunity to include our grandchildren in this tradition.

We also used the cookie cutters to make Baker’s Clay ornaments to bake and paint and hang on our tree.

Another favorite tradition is when Dad reads Scrooge every Christmas season, often by candle and tree light, He reads only one stave on any one night, so it draws the reading out over the season. He recently has recorded it for others just as he reads it to our own children.

For several years now, my older girls and their friends have chosen a day to get together, listen to Christmas music and bake cookie trays for those in public service, our policemen, firemen, sheriff’s deputies, state policemen, etc . They arrange them on a pretty tray, write a message of thanks for their services in our behalf and enclose a gospel message also. They then deliver them. Sometimes, the younger kids go along to deliver them also and get to meet our public servants and express our gratefulness for them.

Early on I made a stuffed nativity for my little ones to play with. It is so good for the little ones to be able to touch and playact the Christmas story for themselves instead of not being allowed one they can touch. The first one I made was when my third son, Nate, was just a baby. He loved holding and playing with it. Wooden ones are great too as the children get a little older. Tina, Nate’s wife, showed me a book several years ago, recognizing the pattern for Nate’s manger scene in it. I was excited to find several other ideas in this book that we had used in our family for years. It is a great resource –Celebrating a Christ Centered Christmas.

We’ve had several different kinds of advent calendars. They are lots of fun. Each day, we take turns in putting up the different characters of the Christmas story with Jesus being saved for Christmas Eve. It is a great resource for cementing all the events surrounding the birth of Jesus in little minds and also building excitement for the season.

We always encourage our kids to learn the Christmas story from Luke 2 and sometimes give rewards for the memorization.

Joni Earackson Tada has a wonderful resource called Christmas carols for a kids’ heart. It teaches the story behind the famous Christmas carols and includes a CD so your kids can sing along, learning ALL the wonderful, rich verses.

These are just a few ideas we’ve used over the years that have helped us to keep Christ the center focus of our celebration, and we’re very pleased to be able to offer you many of these resources for your Christmas season, as well!

~Marilyn

How We Handled Gift Giving

When our children were young, we sometimes had to handle the situation of people giving them gifts which were things we didn't approve of. We found it very helpful to have a wishlist for the kids of things they wanted or things we thought would benefit them. It often solved the problem of people giving them gifts we felt were inappropriate for them. We also tried to tactfully explain to relatives the guidelines we used for gift giving to our kids. We tried to give our children real toys, things that would enable them to role play being a mommy for little girls or cars, building toys, etc for little boys. We didn't give them fantasy type gifts or the latest fad toys and we definitely limited electronic entertainments. We wanted the gifts we gave our children to be things that would contribute to them developing servant's hearts and real character and used that as a standard for our choices. Occasionally they would be given a toy we felt was inappropriate and one we could not let them keep. In those instances, we would return it to a store, if possible and let the child choose something we did approve of. At the same time we tried to lead our children to not be judgmental of others and explained that others had different standards than our family might and we must follow what our conscience told us was right.

In order not to be focused on what they were to get for Christmas, we always had a project to give to others. We gave Picture Bibles to neighborhood children each year to help introduce them to be open to hearing God's Word. (Picture Bible, BTW, make great gifts for kids in extended family who may not be familiar with God's Word. The stories are like comic books, but use realistic illustrations. They are written in an exciting way. It kind of leaves you hanging and that makes you want to read the next story too). We also brought neighbors nativity sugar cookies with a gospel tract each year.

Often we "adopted" elderly as "grandparents" or "aunt or uncles" and gave thoughtful gifts to them. We often gave to Samaritan's purse or Angel tree and for a number of years, we gave to a family who had a child suffering from leukemia. Other years, we found a less fortunate family for all to give to, sometimes a family with a single parent. Some years we ministered to others in several of these ways. One of my favorites that my teen aged children decided upon was to bring cookies and goodies to officers of police departments, sheriff's office, rescue squads, fire departments, etc, in other words our public servants. They would invite friends over to prepare the treats and deliver them together with a card of appreciation for their services to the community and of course, a gospel tract with a clear message.

Now as our family has grown quite large, we handle gifts to each other by drawing names. Each person gives gifts to three others and gets gifts from three others. It's a fun way to handle family giving so that no one gets too much or is strained to feel like they have so many to give to.
Each person plans and prepares gifts for different family members each year. We also encourage each one to have a wish list we can refer to for Christmas and birthday giving. I LOVE watching the faces of little ones who have invested in planning surprises for another family member!!

~Marilyn

How We Chose to Handle Santa Claus

We made the decision when our first son was just a baby that we would not teach our children about Santa Claus. First of all, the reason we chose not to teach our children about Santa was basically because Christmas is about Jesus and Jesus deserves our full attention and praise. Secondly, we strongly felt that we should not lie to our children ,even in “play”. Both Rick and I were saved when we were 16 years old. I had never heard of all the wonderful stories of the Bible as a child. There are so many truths in Scripture that are remarkable and not natural and I didn’t want to confuse my children as to which things Mommy told them were true and which were games we play. If I were to tell them the Santa story and they later learned it wasn’t true, how could I expect them to believe me when I told them about Daniel in the lion’s den or the parting of the Red Sea. I never wanted to intentionally lie to my children.

Therefore, my goal to was to magnify Jesus Christ during the Christmas season . I wanted my children to be devoted to the Lord and not distracted with fairy tales. I began to find meaningful ways to magnify Jesus. During the years we made ornaments for our tree with names of Jesus on them, things like Wonderful Counsellor,

Prince of Peace, Light of the World, Lamb of God, etc. I evaluated the things that we used for our celebration and taught my children what significance they had (these can be found below)

We soon learned that people in stores and friends would be asking him what Santa was going to bring him for Christmas. We realized we had to address it somehow. As for answering well meaning folks we rubbed shoulders with, I told my children that some people play the Santa game. I told them why we didn’t and made it clear that Christmas was about Jesus. I also taught them not to be rude to others and when asked what Santa would bring them, just to say, “We celebrate Jesus birthday on Christmas. Also, I taught them that it was not their responsibility to set others straight and they were not to tell other children there was no Santa. We told them Santa in the mall was someone’s daddy dressed up in a costume, but the Santa game was not something our family participated in. We were not to judge others, but do what God clearly led our family to do. This has worked well for our family through the years. Our children - young and adult love the Lord Jesus Christ and we all LOVE Christmas!! It is a highlight of the year for us and a time to remind us of the greatest sacrifice of all made in our behalf- that God sent His only Son to earth as a Babe to die on a cross for my sins and for yours! What a marvel! Jesus, we love you and we celebrate your arrival here on our sinful earth. Consider what traditions you will have as a family. We have more suggestions on our booklet, More Than Just a Wish List. God bless you as you strive to make Christmas a meaningful celebration for your family.

The Christmas Tree

Jesus was born for the cross. He came to die for us- ON A TREE. I Peter 2:24 says that Jesus bore our own sins in His body on the tree”

The evergreen tree also represents eternal life- the green remains all winter long.

Lights

Jesus was the light of the world. He came to be a light shining in the darkness.

Star

God placed a special star in the sky to guide the wise men to the Savior. It’s fitting that that God used a star to announce the birth of Christ-Ps. 19:1 says, “the Heavens declare the Glory of God”

Angels

Heavenly messengers sent by God to announce the miracle to lowly shepherds

Candle and Poinsettia

Candle-We are told to be lights on a hilltop , not to cover it under a bushel, but to let our light

so shine before men that they may see our good works and glorify our Father in heaven., leading others to our Precious Savior. What better time than

Christmas?

Poinsettia- Answers in Genesis tells us that the poinsettia was used for Christmas as it was believed to represent the unique star of Bethlehem. Also, the red color represents the blood that Jesus sacrificed for our sins. It blooms in winter

.

Gifts

Jesus was the greatest gift ever given . As his life’s blood flowed to the foot of the cross, so we place our gifts under the tree as a reminder of the greatest gift we ever received- the salvation of our soul. We emphasize the joy of giving to others during this season.

Ornaments

Our adornment should be of Christ- God wants to decorate us with the fruit of the spirit to make us more like Him.

Wreath
The wreath, in a circle, reminds us of God’s everlasting love which never ends. The green represents everlasting life.

Candy Cane

Read in Celebrating a Christ-centered Christmas on page 20.

Have you ever thought about the colors of Christmas or explained them to your kids?

Red- represents the shed blood Isaiah 1:18 “Thou your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow.”

White- Christ’s purity and sinlessness

Green- everlasting life

Gold- royalty

Memories and family traditions are the stuff life is made of. And you, as mom, have the wonderful privilege of building meaningful traditions for your children they will treasure their entire lifetime.

A Priceless Gift!

I want to encourage you this month as you shop for gifts for those you love. There are so many options in the stores of toys and books and clothes and the list goes on! However, many of those options are not the best for your family. The shelves are filled with the latest fads and pop stars, begging you to be a part of the craze and buy them.
Let me remind you, though, that this world does not love Christ. In fact, it rejects Him in just about every aspect of life. When society embraces a fad or pop star or music or story, you better watch out! A good rule of thumb, I try to go by, is if there is a show or book series or toy, etc, that is the latest craze, or that "everybody is talking about", stay away from it....Society does NOT gravitate toward what is good, it gravitates toward what is as close to the limit as possible! So be careful! Don't succumb to these fads and allow your children to "taste" of them, just because everyone else is allowing their children to do so. Many times I hear parents say "but I need to let my kids experience some of these things, so when they get into the 'real world' they will "fit in". And so, they allow their children to dabble in things that are not wholesome and innocent and productive, for the sake of being "socialized". This may sound elementary to some of you, but I am constantly amazed at how many Christian parents do this very thing!
So what if you're little girl is the only one without a Hannah Montana t-shirt! You should be more concerned with raising a godly young lady, than being sure she is not labeled as "weird". As parents, it is NOT our job to be sure they taste all the little bits of the "world" that they are 'supposed' to! NO! God says to be SEPARATE from the world... to be UNSPOTTED. It is your responsibility as parents to shield them from these influences in the world.
So, I say all these things to encourage you this year, as you wrap up buying gifts for your family, to be sure the presents you are giving them are innocent in nature. There is a massive push these days to expose children to so much more than they need to know, to make them dress more provocative, etc,etc....they want to rob them of the innocence of childhood. Protect your kids this Christmas season. Keep them unspotted from the world. You are not robbing them of the latest fashion, you are giving them a gift that will last for eternity!

~Kari Boyer

On Celebrating Christmas

Some people complain about the commercialization of Christmas and it is a fact. But that’s no reason to succumb to it ourselves or to go to the other extreme and cease to celebrate it at all.

Instead, we need to focus our energies to teach our families to marvel in Jesus. Jesus is so worthy of a special celebration each year. As we point our families to the true meaning of Christmas, God may just use our influence to challenge our culture to return to it’s Biblical roots. That happens one family at a time!

I don’t know about you, but it warms my heart when I hear real Christmas carols resounding in stores during the season. It does happen! Christmas is definitely a time when people’s hearts are more open to hearing of God’s Word and His truth. When we make Christ the center of our celebrations, He’ll become the center of our children’s celebrations and we can create a legacy for our posterity.

It is a temptation to get caught up in the busyness of Christmas and not set aside time for your little ones, but they are your priority. Try to plan plenty of storytime and time to explain your traditions to them. Deut. 6:20 says “When your son asks you in time to come saying , what do the testimonies and statutes and judgements mean which the Lord our God commanded us?” Here and elsewhere in Scripture it assumes that we will live in such a way that our children will ask us why we do things the way we do them, and here we are presented with a perfect teaching opportunity. God instructed His people to hold feast and special worship times: and for us, Christmas is worthy of celebration.

Teach Your Children the Signifigance of our Traditions

Tree - The Christmas Tree-

Jesus was born for the cross. He came to die for us- ON A TREE. I Peter 2:24 says that Jesus bore our own sins in His body on the tree”

The evergreen tree also represents eternal life- the green remains all winter long.

Lights-

Jesus was the light of the world. He came to be a light shining in the darkness.

Star

God placed a special star in the sky to guide the wise men to the Savior. It’s fitting that that God used a star to announce the birth of Christ-Ps. 19:1 says,
“the Heavens declare the Glory of God”

Angels

Heavenly messengers sent by God to announce the miracle to lowly shepherds

Candle and Poinsettia

We are told to be lights on a hilltop , not to cover it under a bushel, but to let our light so shine before men that they may see our good works and glorify our Father in heaven., leading others to our Precious Savior. What better time than Christmas?

Poinsettia- Answers in Genesis tells us that the poinsettia was used for Christmas as it was believed to represent the unique star of Bethlehem. Also, the red color represents the blood that Jesus sacrificed for our sins. It blooms in winter.

Gifts

Jesus was the greatest gift ever given . As his life’s blood flowed to the foot of the cross, so we place our gifts under the tree as a reminder of the greatest gift we ever received- the salvation of our soul.

We emphasize the joy of giving to others during this season.

Ornaments

Our adornment should be of Christ- God wants to decorate us with the fruit of the spirit to make us more like Him.

Wreath

The wreath, in a circle, reminds us of God’s everlasting love which never ends. The green represents everlasting life.

Candy cane

Read in Celebrating a Christ-centered Christmas on page 20.

Have you ever thought about the colors of Christmas or explained them to your kids?

Red- represents the shed blood Isaiah 1:18 “Thou your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow.”

White- Christ’s purity and sinlessness

Green- everlasting life

Gold- royalty

Memories and family traditions are the stuff life is made of. And you, as mom, have the wonderful privilege of building meaningful traditions for your children they will treasure their entire lifetime. Traditions are kind of like a glue that cements the family together in a special , unique, way.

excerpted from More Than Just a Wish List by Marilyn Boyer

HOME for the Holidays

"It was the policy of the good old gentleman to make his children feel that home was the happiest place in the world; and I value this delicious home-feeling as one of the choicest gifts a parent could bestow." excerpt from "Christmas Eve" by Washington Irving

When I read this line from "Christmas Eve", I just loved it! One of the choicest gifts a parent could bestow".....what was it? A "home-feeling" he called it. The man in the story had been recalling his holidays at home and excited about joining in those familiar traditions again when he arrived home.

I have to ask myself. Do I give my children a "delicious home feeling"? I know I want to. And I agree, I think that must be one of the most wonderful gifts I can give to my children year after year.

When I recall the holiday seasons in my life, my mind does not settle itself on the gifts I received or how moist the turkey was, or if the pies were burnt. But, what I do remember is my home, family.

Here are some of the things that say "thanksgiving" or "Christmas" to me......Dad fixing the turkey every year, Mom and Dad saying " Happy Thanksgiving" with a hug when I first saw them in the morning, Looking at the familiar Christmas decorations on the mantle year after year, arranging the Christmas presents around the tree (that was MY job!), Watching videos with my younger brother of our family Christmases from years past, visits to grandparents, Special services at church, special meals the way only Mom can fix them, the smell of the attic when we would take the decorations down, sitting by the fire with the family and looking at lights on the tree, making donuts (too many times!), singing and dancing and excitement Thanksgiving night when we kick off the Christmas season.....

that's just a few, but it is nothing spectacular, and yet, I would not trade anything in exchange for those memories. Because all those things are wrapped up in the general wrapping of HOME, FAMILY, LOVE. You can't replace those.

What's my point? Make memories with your kids! Start this year. Make your home a place that is filled with love and togetherness. Don't allow yourself to be too busy and harried to enjoy the holidays! I just cringe when I hear a mom say "Oh dear, Christmas is almost here" (with a sigh) or "Thanksgiving is just a month away?- don't remind me- I have too much to do!"
If that is your attitude, you do have too much to do. Don't rob yourself and your children the joys of the season because you are grumpy because you have "so much to do". Find joy in those tasks. Remember that it is a gift from God to have a family to serve. Give yourself the freedom to Say NO to activities or events. You can't do them all. This holiday season, be sure you set aside time at HOME with just you and your family, doing special things together. Will it be spectacular? Probably not......but it will be memorable.

~Kari