The Magic of Christmas

Growing up, Christmas always had a truly magical feel surrounding it. Our Christmases were better than those in the movies-- because they were without the dramatic family events -- it was all the good (the love, the family, the presents) and none of the bad!

I love Christmas, even today there is so much joy and wonder surrounding it all. I love the traditional Christmas treats (thanks to Barbie!), I love the warm Christmas parties and the indoor decorations that you only see once a year, the way so many adorn their homes with lights... I just LOVE Christmas!!!

As perfect as Christmas is, it is 100000 times better with little ones to enjoy it with! I'm so excited to experience the magic of Christmas with our babies this year!! Already we've had so much fun with Evie, as she is at an age where her comprehension of events is beginning to shape. She has so enjoyed our Christmas tree and the special ornaments that I've placed low for her to see. She loves going to look at Christmas lights- her motto is: the gaudier looking, the better! She makes me want to just throw as many lights on our house as possible and get every lawn blow up item they offer- just so she can enjoy them! Thankfully, though, my hubby is in charge of lights, and has done a wonderful (and tasteful) job decorating our home!

More than anything, I've been excited to share the miracle of the birth of Jesus with Evie. Christmas is so neat because there are so many books and decorations that we have that we only pull out around this time. And it is through these things that we've been able to continually reinforce what Christmas is all about. My mom has this old plush nativitiy scene, we've had it for as long as I can remember, and as a girl I would spend hours creating and reinacting the story of the birth of Jesus with those items. My wonderful mother-in-law purchased a Little People nativity scene for the kids, and we have it our coffee table, and we play with it ALL day! I think of the verse in Deuteronomy 6 where it says " These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads." For us, it's not the literal binding them on our foreheads, but placing them on our coffee table and on our fireplace, coloring pictures of the nativity scene and reading books about the miracle of the birth of Jesus. Through this, through talking about them every day and making them tangible for our children to understand the story of the first Christmas at their level, hopefully, we are impressing the very love of God upon their hearts.

It is our hope and prayer that we follow the above verse in everything we do, each day, even when it is not the Christmas season. At the ages the kids are, it is so easy to talk about God as we see His handiwork in creation. But remembering to incorporate the Bible, and lessons that he's given us, that is harder to do on a day to day basis, and I'm guessing will be even harder to do as they grow and the lessons move from the simple to the more complex.... It's my hope and prayer that every season in our household the focus can be brought back on the Lord, not just Christmas season.