Not away from the Manger anymore...

One of the many great things about having a 16 month old in the house at Christmas is being able to witness Christmas for the first time again through her eyes.  It tickles my heart to get to see her "aah" (or in her case "oooohhh") at each new thing that comes along in the season. The other day we were looking at something with a Santa Claus on it and I asked "Ella Kate can you say Santa?" and said it very slow several times.  

Rhett walked by and asked what I was doing. I explained that we are going to get to teach Ella Kate all about Christmas this year and continued my "SANTA" speak.  On his way out of the room Rhett said "Don't you think we should teach her Jesus first?" 

gulp!

Yeah. 

We should. 

I don't think Rhett meant to rock my world or make any great theological statement with his statement/question. It was a very uncharacteristic thing for him to say and he was gone before I realized what he had said. But I have not been able to get those words out of my mind... Don't you think we should teach her Jesus first? 

I grew up in a Christian tradition that did not think it was Christian to celebrate Christmas as Christ's birthday. The irony of that last sentence and that whole way of thinking now blows me away. It was so backwards because we still celebrated Christmas.. just with Santa, Rudolph, Frosty and gifts, but not with baby Jesus. And we thought people who did were wrong. 

Even though I lived it, it now makes no sense to me why anyone would think it is more Christ-like to celebrate with Santa and not Jesus.  Did I really believe that? 

I don't blame my parents, or really anyone else, because they were doing what they thought was right at the time. I am glad most in that same "tradition" have re-evaluated and decided Christians can and should center Christmas, as well as most every other event in life, around Christ.  I find it very hard to relate to the those who still think celebrating Christ during Christmas is un-Christian... but that is another blog. 

For me, coming out of the the "no Christ in Christmas thing" is sort of like people in the 60's and 70's coming out of racism from a purely theoretical view only! Just like those who grew up considering other human beings less human because of their skin color could not imagine why or how they ever felt or believed that way, I too cringe at the past.  But just because you don't believe or feel that way, it's still not so easy to "make friends" with the thing you avoided for years. It takes time and purposed thinking.

However, even though I want Christ to be the center of our Christmas, I do not think that Santa is all bad. I do not think you have to leave Santa out of Christmas to be a good Christian and have problems understanding Christians who are anti-Santa. I like Santa and the idea of Santa. My kids still get presents from Santa on Christmas morning and we have Santa pictures made every year. I have all sorts of Santa's all over my house.  Though I am not sure how to feel about the whole "is Santa real thing", I don't want to leave Santa out of our Christmas.

To add to my Christmas confusion, over the top materialism steeped in commercialism under the guise of capitalism has made Christmas the great national economic make-or-break season. Consumerism has nothing to do with  Christ or Santa Claus. Sometimes I feel like Christmas has become a big celebration of the dollar, a season when our actions teach that happiness comes from gifts and love and affection are measured by the amount of money you spend on gifts, entertaining and decorations for your family, friends and loved ones. I don't want to be a part of that, but we all are to some extent. Like it or not.

So what do we want to teach Ella Kate about Christmas?  Though I don't profess to have all the answers, to help with this I gave the kids an early present yesterday. They opened it and have had a great time playing with it, especially Ella Kate. She loves to stack, rearrange, chew-on, carry around and even play hide and seek with the pieces. It's one of those thing I want them to enjoy during this and many Christmas seasons to come.

And no, a toy nativity scene does not answer all the questions and issues out there about Christmas. 

But in my own house, 

in my own way, 

no matter what the season, 

I want to try to always show my children Jesus first.  

Merry Christmas!