In our house, we do not do Santa Clause. Most people look at me like I have 3 heads when I tell them that. Then they usually ask...Why not? What is the harm? But my question is this: Does Santa help us to draw closer to Christ? For our family, the answer is no. Sure, the big elf is pretty fun and what is the harm in allowing kids to believe in magic? For me, it is a lie; the whole Santa thing is. What really bothers me is this notion of being good or bad. If you are good, Santa brings you gifts, if you are bad, you get coal. Kids get threatened that they will get coal, but when push comes to shove, do parents actually follow thru? I have never met one that did. So from Thanksgiving until Christmas Eve, parents are constantly telling their kids "You better be good; Santa is watching." What about God? Isn't God watching? Isn't God the ultimate authority on good and bad? Shouldn't we teach children to obey and behave properly based upon God's moral code? Every family is different and must discern God's will for their family. For us, taking Santa out of the picture has allowed us to move away from the "What am I going to get for Christmas?" to the "What can I do for Christ and how can I grow in my faith?". What a blessing that has been!
Instead of Santa, we do something different with our nativity set. I set up our criche and told the boys that we wanted to make a very soft manger for baby Jesus filled with cotton balls. The only way that they could put a cotton ball in His manger was for mommy or daddy to catch the boys in a good act. For every good deed, they got a cotton ball. You would have thought I was giving them cotton candy every time; they loved it!!! The boys were SO excited to do something for baby Jesus in preparing for his birth. At first, they tried to report to me each time they would do something for their sibling or to help me around the house. I quickly stopped that by not giving them any cotton balls. They had to get "caught" in the good deed. This was definitely a big success. The result? A lot of good behavior for Jesus!!! I really believe that it made an impression on Jacob how important it is that we do things that are pleasing to God. It doesn't earn our way into Heaven, but it helps us as we work out our own salvation. This really helped the boys to understand that everything we do must be with Christ in mind!
Our next favorite activity was the Jesse Tree. I had purchased a kit from Leaflet Missal last year and had never finished it for Advent in 2010. So this year, I decided that I would finish making the ornaments and do it with the boys each day. For each of the 29 days, there was an ornament that went on the tree and an Old Testament story. The Jesse tree begins with the creation story and follows chronologically until Jesus' birth.
Every morning, Jacob would beg me to do the next ornament. I had purchased a Catholic Children's Bible that was perfect for reading the stories. I am embarrassed to say that even I did not know all of the stories; it was a very humbling experience. Thankfully, our church is offering a bible study on the Old Testament starting in February; guess I better sign up! ;-) Regardless, we enjoyed these stories and lessons on how many men remained faithful to God; despite great struggles and suffering. Here is what it looked like at the end:
Advent is truly about the three comings of Christ, His coming at Bethlehem, His coming daily into our hearts; if we allow Him; and His final coming that we are awaiting. Here is a beautiful season in the liturgical calendar that allows us to focus on the virgin birth and Christ humbling Himself to become a man. I hope that you have had a beautiful Advent in preparation for the coming of our King!!!
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