Sometimes, We Get Faith Right

The girls were very excited about Christmas this year - Miss Moo in particular. At the age of 3, all of the magic surrounding the holidays was buzzing in her head. Questions about Jesus and God, Santa Claus, and other holiday icons surfaced daily. I tried my best to explain that Santa would bring presents if she was good, but not to focus on it. I don't want to deprive my children of the experience of Santa in any way, but I also don't want to use it as the only reason for her to given generously and love unconditionally.

We used several tools to keep the true magic of Christmas alive. We read from The Jesus Storybook Bible. We played with our Little People Nativity. I invested some money in some fabulous books for bedtime. Among them were:

• Christmas in the Manger by Nola Buck
• God Gave Us Christmas by Lisa T. Bergren
• Humphrey's First Christmas by Carol Heyer
• Song of the Stars:A Christmas Story by Sally Lloyd-Jones
• Room for a Little One: A Christmas Tale by Martin Waddell

We also talked about Jesus as much as we could. We talked about how he was a baby that grew up to love us all unconditionally. We talked about how God was his Daddy but Joseph was his daddy that lived with him. We talked about how he grew in his Mommy Mary's belly like her baby brother is growing in mine. And we talked about his birth.

We used all our nativities a lot. We talked about the people present in them and why they were there. We talked about why Jesus was born in a manger and why we celebrate Christmas when we do. I knew that some parts were sinking in where others might not be. She understood who the kings were but not really why they came or when. She understood that Jesus was God's son and that he was born on Christmas Day. But she didn't seen to understand why Christmas was such a celebration. Or so I thought.

One day were were wrapping presents for her cousins and she asked me if Jesus was coming for his birthday. I explained that he was always with us but that he would spend his birthday with God in Heaven. She wanted to know why we got presents if He didn't get any. I explained that we exchange gifts to remember his love for us and how we should all love one another. I told her it wasn't really about the presents that we received, but the love that we gave to all of those in our lives. I also told her that it was really a day about Him.

She thought for a moment and then said,

"Mommy, if we can't give Jesus a present, we need to bake him a cake. It's his birthday but he has a  party for all of us."

And so we did.