sharing Christmas with children

I've been reading a book recently that was first published in 1890, called Hints on Child Training. The author is H. Clay Trumbull, great-grandfather to Elisabeth Elliot. More thoughts from this book will be coming, but for now I will simply quote a few lines from his chapter on giving added value to a child's Christmas:

"He who would make children happy must do for them and do with them, rather than merely give to them. He must give himself with his gifts, and thus imitate and illustrate, in a degree, the love of Him who gave Himself to us, who is touched with the sense of our enjoyments as well as our needs, and who, with all that He gives us, holds out an expectation of some better thing in store for us: of that which passeth knowledge and understanding, but which shall fully satisfy our hopes and longings when at last we have it in possession."

It seems fitting that Christmas would be a time of hopes and longings satisfied, as the hope for a Savior had occupied the hearts of God's people from the time He first hinted at the Promised One in Gen. 3:16. And it is a season of surprises, as the Son came not as expected by the people but yet exactly as God Himself had planned from the beginning. So we, as parents, may instill a bit of this expectation, longing, and excitement in our interactions with our children in this Season of seasons, the advent of the Christ Child.

We didn't plan on making Santa pancakes a part of our family tradition. Santa is not the centerpiece of our celebrating, but he is tolerated and winked at in a good-natured way. After making these for the kids one year, they insisted they make a comeback year after year. They are easy to make: Reddi-Whip, cherry pie filling, a banana, a few chocolate chips, and of course pancakes.

Josiah was obviously surprised and delighted!!

A friend made these adorable snowmen with her niece and nephews, and then shared her craft instructions and materials with us. The kids had a ball making these even though it meant a lot of waiting while Mom manned the hot-glue gun.

Since the older kids were preschoolers, we've made a paper chain, pulling off one link each day to count down the days until Christmas. Micah always adds 6 more links to count down to his New Year's Eve birthday. I thought perhaps this year the older kids might be getting too old to want to do this, but Micah was the one who asked to assemble the chain.

This year we chose to reenact the Christmas story with this tool from Family Life. Every night the kids open a present with one of the characters from the story, and we read the corresponding Bible verses. This has been a wonderful way to get the very active 3-year-old involved.

Another great tradition for most families is riding around town, looking at Christmas lights. This activity took on added meaning a few years ago when we began to share with the kids that Christmas lights help us remember Jesus is the light of the world, and His people shine a beautiful light in a dark world when they live their lives for Him.