Every family approaches the celebrations of Christmas diffently in their homes. I am totally real with my kids. We discuss who Christ is and who we are celebrating; where our honor and praise is due. We've also discussed who Saint Nikolaus is and how he is remembered for his kindness and generosity in other countries (we have family in Germany). My kids are aware that the Santa celebrated in America is a historically recent tradition (look up the connection to Coca Cola), and we've chosen not to celebrate the fairy tale, because it steals glory from the one who is truly worthy of our joy and excitement. We've taken on our friend's nickname for Santa as the "Glory-stealer." Honestly, this is the first year we have followed advent, and the anticipation to celebrate Christ's birthday has been great. My kids are aware that we don't offend other families by telling them their Santa-related traditions are wrong, but we do discuss openly in our home.
I love that we can look at fairy tales and life-sized myths and discuss them as a family, that my kids want to know about what others believe, and why: what the root is for others faith in the omniscient Santa Claus, keltys, fairies (good and bad), and many other mythological characters. There is a place for imagination, and a beauty in it. The Chronicles of Narnia, for example... we want it to be real! But in our home Christ, His life and birth and subsequent death is tantamount. Christmas and Easter are the believers figurative lantern-posts of our earthly odyssey, and I don't want lies to surround my children's understanding of it. My kids are now ages 2 and up, so the Little's still don't really understand much about Santa or the rest, but the bigger kids have to be reminded to handle their better grasp on knowledge graciously. It's a work in progress for all of us, but beautiful nonetheless.
No comments:
Post a Comment