On a more sentimental note, I am so excited that my girls are getting old enough to enjoy Christmas! Evie seems to be entering the "why?" phase in her life. (sometimes I have to stop myself from answering the ENDLESS stream of WHY? Questions!!) But it is a joy to realize that I get to teach her the WHY of Christmas! She's still a little young for much depth, but not for long!
Now the fun part is figuring our yearly traditions that will be fun for her and teach her about Jesus! I didn't grow up in a Christian home so Christmas was all presents and santa for me. Now that it's my turn, I want to teach the truth!
So far a fun idea I heard about was an interactive nativity. Buy/make a nativity set. Have Joseph and Mary get closer and closer to the manger during December, and have baby Jesus show up on Christmas! Fun. :) that helps little ones understand the timeline and reality a little better I think. However, I'm sure there are lots of other good ideas out there...any suggestions?
Fun to see you posting again Jana!
ReplyDeleteI started a tradition with my little ones last year of a daily Advent. I made 25 little stockings (I'm sure you could use whatever you like) so the girls can see the progression of days until Christmas. In each stocking I put a piece of paper with a Bible passage to read and discuss and a small treat for the kids (I only put the treat in the night before). This year we've been tracing the lineage of Jesus through the Old Testament (reading such stories as Adam and Eve, Abraham, Ruth, David, etc.)and are now reading about His actual coming to earth. The girls LOVE it and we often find ourselves reading through a few chapters of the Bible just to see what happened next. So far the only downside has been the day after Christmas when they realize we're done. I'm thinking I may have to do something similar leading up to Easter. I'm hoping it will give them a firm foundation that they might have a true reason to celebrate.