It's Not About Santa, It's About Jesus

(Pictured above is Santa kneeling beside baby Jesus, apologizing and asking Jesus for his forgiveness because he didn't mean to "replace" or over power Jesus and the true meaning of Christmas)

Getting ready to clean the house and I look under the tree at the presents and think

"Why?"

We get carried away when shopping for The kids for Christmas. All we think of is how their faces will light up and the squeals that will insue when they open the presents Christmas morning. 

We get excited at the thought and it drives us to go overboard. We don't think about all the time we will spend trying to get the kids to pick up their toys and clean their rooms. We don't think about the pain or the explitives that will come pouring out of our mouths when we step on tiny peices of toys that were forgotten until that very moment. 

And then we ask ourselves if we are teaching our children right. 

Do the presents and Santa over power and mask the true meaning of Christmas? 

Do they realize the importance of this day?

Do they realize that, like the song from the church play Lanie participated in, you can't have Christmas without Jesus and you can't have Christmas without the cross?

I think Lanie is starting to understand but is it enough? Will she ever know truely? What can I do to help? 

We're guilty of not going to church often enough. Of not showing our children the way soon enough. We are guilty of making excuses. 

In the last 6 months to a year, we've (I've) been trying to change that. I've encouraged Lanie to get more involved in church by participating in the kids programs and making friends who also go to church. I find when you have someone whome you share interest with, like God band church, then you get more involved with those activities because you have someone at your side. It's a start to changing and atoning for the lack of God and worship in the past.

We've always believed in God and taught our kids about all God has done for us but it wasn't enough. Not if presents and Santa ovetbear and mask the true meaning of Christmas. 

We can't forget to teach our children the story of when Jesus was born. Or to remind them what He did for us all. 

(Pictured above is Elfie our Elf on the Shelf wrapped in Santa paper with a book he brought the kids from the North Pole and Santa about the Story of Jesus). 

'Just before Jesus went up to Heaven, he appeared to his disciples and told them to travel to faraway places and teach people to obey his words. "And I will be with you always." Promised Jesus, "until the end of the world."'

(From 'The Story Of Jesus' by Jane Werner Watson, written in a way children can understand Jesus's, birth, life, death, rebirth and love for all)