Christmas, Smeltz-style

Amidst all the bustle of this Holiday season, all the travel to visit family or to have them come visit us, and in between all the programs and dinners and parties and cookie-baking and present-shopping... we find ourselves in a struggle to very intentionally teach our kids the truth of "Christmas". There are Oh-so-many things about the season that are just distractions for me. What is important and what is just habit?

Now, before I go any further, I need to state that this is how we have decided to do things in our home. It is not meant to persuade anyone to agree with our choices, much less follow them. You all are responsible parents and are quite capable of making choices for your own families.

With that said, let me just be blunt. We don't do Santa. (gasp). At first, we just didn't talk about Santa with Makenna. That plan got us through a whopping 2 Christmases, OK, 3 if you count her first one as a 3 month old. At age 3, she became curious but wasn't too sure she liked him anyway, as she still has a phobia of people in costume and I WAS RELIEVED. We want so much to enforce truth. I don't know if any other families have a struggle with their preschool-aged children about what is real and what is make-believe, or what is truth and what is a lie, but we have these conversations on a daily basis. "Is the Little Mermaid real? I can see her on TV, so she's real, right?"... No. "Well, Grace's daddy is on TV (news) and he's real." Right, but we see him outside the TV too. "But, Callie saw the princesses at Disney!"... sigh. It's exhausting to try to explain the difference, isn't it?

So, in our house, no Santa. (We also gave her very detailed instructions not to talk about this with other kids -- only mommy and daddy). We have chosen the path of Santa as a character in a story, like the princesses are a story, and people like to dress up like him because he was kind to children in his story just like people dress up like the princesses at Disney.

But, how then do we teach her the truth of Jesus when we can't see him? Well, that's where we have faith, I suppose.

We TRY to follow the model in Deuteronomy 6:4-9:
Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the door frames of your houses and on your gates.

So, basically, talk about Him all the time. [Kenna is getting really good at this, by the way, initiating ridiculously deep theological discussions while trapped on one of our long car rides across town. I do my best to answer her as thoroughly as possible, while keeping in mind her age... but that's another post.]

And so, at Christmas, we don't just focus on his birthday (which wasn't December 25th anyway) and giving presents to each other. We talk about who He is (God's son), why it's important that He was born (to forgive us of our sins), and why we can celebrate (because He was raised from the dead) and share His love with others.

So that's our goal. Share His love with others. We keep the presents among our immediate little family to a bare minimum and focus on who we can help instead. This year we packed Samaritan's Purse Operation Christmas Child boxes -- two for Grandma's church and one for school. Those boxes went to Rwanda, Chad, and Ukraine. We wrote letters, drew pictures, and sent a Christmas bonus to Mariam (our Compassion child) in Tanzania. Locally, we will be serving at our church's Christmas dinner (being held in January), and helped a few families with various needs, and are helping sponsor one of our youth kids for her mission trip to Africa this summer. I don't mention these things out of pride or a "look-at-me" motive. But to remind you, the way we remind our kids, that no matter how much or how little WE have we are always supposed to be looking for ways to help others. Not in "the spirit of Christmas", but in the spirit of Christ.

And yes, there are lessons to be learned of giving gifts to others and God giving the gift of His son, and numerous other Holiday lessons. And they will learn those, too. But I love thinking of all the ways we can help them nurture their little hearts towards "loving others because God loves us."

"My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you." -- John 15:12

Go. Love well today.

[for more on my thoughts on the season, check out the blog linked on the left "A Holy Experience"]