As my boys are getting older, I really want them to start to understand the true meaning of Christmas. I'm having highs and low's in this department.
High: While wrapping gifts with Grant for our 'giving tree' at church, I explained how Heavenly Father wants us to give to others and we were giving some gifts to children whose parents didn't have very much money and couldn't buy them Christmas gifts. He sweetly said "So Mommy, we are giving this Barbie to a little girl whose parents don't have any money so she can have a good Christmas?". I really thought he got it, the true spirit of giving!! Mission accomplished.
Low: Then, as we wrapped our cousin gifts, Grant said. "Mommy, why doesn't Aunt Whitney have any money to buy cousin Andrew any presents??". Hmmmm.... need to tweak the 'giving' lesson a bit. Maybe it wasn't quite as clear as I thought.
High: My kids were up at 6:30 a.m. this morning to play with the Playmobil nativity I had put out last night. They could not wait! I stumbled out of bed, told them it was too dark to be awake and to take their baby Jesus and go back to bed!! (So maybe that was a low!) But I was grateful at how intriguing a set of wise men, camels and shepherds were to them and maybe, just maybe, the meaning would start to sink in!
Low: For Family night we read a beautiful story called 'Penny's Christmas Miracle' about a little girl who saved her money in a Christmas Jar and used it to do a kind deed at Christmas time. We then talked with the kids about thinking about someone in need we could help this Christmas, Nate exclaimed: "I know someone in need. ME. I need lots of toys." Ughhhhh!!!! Where have we gone wrong??
I can tell this is going to take some some time....
What do you do to help your kids understand the 'true meaning'??
