Monday, November 24, 2008

This Year Christmas is Going to be Different...

Trying to get it all done. That's the ever present syndrome that I face, as well as most women and moms I know. This Christmas, I am going to do it differently.

I have made a vow to myself, my sanity, and my bank account, that Christmas this year is going to be the best ever but it's not going to involve running around like a chicken with it's head cut off. I am cutting back BIG TIME and I'm pretty excited about it (I've even made an Excel spreadsheet with projected price per person/per gift and have set up formulas to help me see how much I'm spending so I can make good choices - don't laugh Jill).

It's not just the money, although we are all feeling that pinch I'm sure, but it's the REAL reason. I have felt for sometime that we have lost sight of Jesus and that retailers make it too easy to get caught up in the buying and spending and the I wants and the I gotta haves. After all, its Jesus' birth we are celebrating at Christmas.

This brings me to point #2. Tanner is only 1 so he doesn't have a concept of what Christmas really is or is about or how in the world Santa fits in but I have been thinking about this (and I would love any suggestions or feedback on the Santa part). How do I start planting the seed that we get presents at Christmas because we are celebrating Jesus' birth without dousing the traditional Santa Clause (Jesus' role at Christmas seems like a no brainer to me so I think we're good there)? I don't want my kid to ruin it for others that believe in Santa, etc. I want to raise him to know Jesus and to understand the real meaning for the holiday and still have that magic that I can remember from my childhood and still feel on occasion.

May your life be filled with magic this Thanksgiving and Christmas season!

3 comments:

mama b said...

hi there! i'm a friend of regina's, so that's how i found your blog. we've sorta made the unpopular choice to opt out of santa for our baby girl (and however many more kids God decides to bless us with). i know of several families who have the tradition of leaving baby Jesus out of nativity scenes, and mom & dad putting him in the manger after the kids have gone to bed Christmas Eve, so first thing the next morning, instead of seeing what Santa brought, the first thing the kids do is run to see if Jesus is in the manger. i LOVE that idea, and it's something we'd like to do. such a simple but meaningful way to put Jesus right where he belongs, in the center of Christmas.

i'm not a veteran mama, so i have no idea what it will be like for our kids to be left out of the santa thing if all their friends know and love santa, but we will pray about it and downplay it. one of my mentors told me recently that with her children, whenever they asked if santa was real, she always said "what do you think?" until finally each would have a year when they were fed up with her answer. if they said "no mom, i want to know," she would tell them no, he wasn't real, and they all said "that's what i thought." no big deal...

as a children's minister i totally get the tradition of santa, and i grew up with it, but it troubles me that we constantly teach that there is ONE God, yet we're saying there's another man who can travel the world in a matter of hours and do magical things? i don't think the tradition of santa is worth the mixed messages it can send to our kids about God.

so sorry for the novel! i just thought i'd throw my 2 cents in! blessings to you and your family! :)

Jill said...

a spreadsheet! hahahahahahah.
(just kidding) :-)

I think you already know the drill with my kids and santa...

Santa only fills stockings. (so it's all little stuff)
and we (me this year) only give ONE gift to each kid.
We focus on the fact that Jesus was the true gift of Christmas.

Or course I can't stop the grandparents from buying a bunch of junk. but it has helps that my family draws names for Polyanna. That cuts down on alot of chaos as well.

When my kids ask if Santa is real, I am the one that also responds... "what do you think?"
I'm pretty sure that they know the truth but they are just not ready to risk saying it yet:-)

Anonymous said...

Your long lost friend in NC, that's me! :)
We gave up stockings a few years ago. Party because it was just "junk" stuff and partly because I selfishly want ALL the credit for my hard earned paycheck that buys the presents!! We did Santa stuff when they were little. One year I quit that but put out one opened gift for them to play with when they woke up. They loved that! A couple of years ago we also went to 3 gifts. I heard various versions of this. Some do 1 for fun, 1 for education and 1 for clothes. Sometimes we do 2 for each and 1 together gift. The idea that there won't be lots of gifts under the tree, but a few well thought out ones. Last year we bought everyone on our list a gift from Sameritan's Purse (think goats, shoebox for kids, clean water, etc.). We wrote out why we choose each gift for that particular family member. Then the girls each chose one from that group that would replace one of their gifts. That was a really cool idea that they really liked. We tend of empahsize the idea that sometimes we give them cool gifts throughout the year "just beause" so it's not a huge emphasis on what's under the tree (from mom OR from Santa). We tell them not to spoil the Santa idea for other kids. They seem ok with that. They do believe in the tooth fairy and leprecauns so they aren't totally warped! We do plenty of Jesus things including a cake, a box with a mirror inside (our gift to Jesus is ourselves), the nativity set up, and more. We do family activity days with local friends so that takes out the gift idea for all that and gives us a fun event to look forward to in December. We try to take local friends to living nativities to help share the true meaning of Christmas with unsaved neighbors and friends. I love reading your blog and seeing your passion for Jesus. :) Jennifer D. in NC