christmas musings and meanings // nativity

With a growing little family, I have been so excited to help create a meaningful and fun Christmas for my children. It has been an interesting process for Mark and I, thinking through what we want our family Christmas to look like and to mean to the kids. Developing 'our family way' of doing Christmas. Of course, it's always been a good ol' time growing up but having my own little crew now, I am so excited to add layers of tradition, meaning, and purpose to this time of year. It is such a privilege to experience the magic of this season through the eyes of a child and every year since Lily was born, it just gets more and more wonderful! Each year we layer in another tradition, a new direction, an increased sense of meaning that we want to pass on to the kids. Special little things to remember and build on every year, a strong sense of family identity and ways to both bless and give joy to our children and more importantly, encourage them to bless and serve others.

Tonight I brought out a cute wooden Nativity set that I bought for the kids
in January last year so I wouldn't forget this year!

Our floors are almost finished (can I get a 'Yahooo!!!!') but still bare, and the wide
space just called the kids to spread out and play!

Our thoughts, traditions and goals are still developing and I am sure will continue to 'adjust' over the years, but what does Christmas look like - and feel like - in our family? I might go into some of the traditions we are gathering in another post but tonight I feel like musing on what elements of Christmas look like in our home and how we got to this place.

One aspect is that after much thought, prayer, discussion and so on, we have decided (is this controversial?!!) that we would not tell our children that Santa is 'real'. For a variety of reasons, I just did not personally feel comfortable even attempting to uphold the 'charade'. We are happy to play along with some fun aspects as the kids want to, e.g. last year we scattered reindeer food on the lawn that Lily made at school, and who knows what else we will get into in years to come, but it is done with the understanding that it's part of the magical world of make-believe. Just as the kids have a glorious time hunting through the house for bears (though no bears have yet been found!), or fluttering around as fairies (even though they can't yet fly!), they can also enjoy the excitement and magic of the season whilst knowing that Santa is just a bit of pretend-fun. Kid's capacity for joy and wonder in imagination is pretty cool like that! We may introduce the historical aspect of St Nicholas at some point as the basis for the modern Santa but not as a current and real magical person.

I just want to add that by no means do I think this is the 'only right way' - it is just simply what felt right and good for our family, and we are just doing our best to uphold certain values and principles with our kids as best we can. We sure aren't trying to be kill-joys (they are still wildly excited about Christmas even though they don't think Santa magically brings them gifts) and will definitely work hard on making sure the kids don't spoil the fantasy for any other kids too!

'Eli, please can I have the big palm tree?'
'Uhhhhhh.... no.'
Can't believe I managed to capture this cheeky little face!!!
Camera was put down and intervention occurred directly after this scene,
haha!

As for the religious aspect - though I don't think Jesus was actually born on December 25th, and thus I don't consider Christmas a 'holy day', I appreciate that it is a time of year to remember the birth of Jesus and what a gift it was for God to send His Son to earth for our salvation. I definitely want this to be an aspect of our Christmas, this focus on the ultimate gift and trying to remember and live out those things that Jesus came to earth to bring, teach and exemplify - love and grace!

For me, one of the things I most love about Christmas and want it to be about for our little crew is family and community. Time together without a lot of stress or expectation - giving, sharing, serving, loving. Eating, relaxing, singing, laughing, doing fun things together, summery outings and activities, projects (without pressure), catching up with family, with friends. Looking for ways to give to those in need, and being part of our community. It doesn't all happen in one year, or all the same every year but slowly and surely we build up 'Our Family Christmas', a season of joy and love and fun and family.

Suffice to say.... I love it!

I read out a story about the birth of Jesus whilst Lily eagerly acted the scenes out with the pieces. She loved it and
I can tell we will be doing this every night till Christmas!

Later on she renamed everyone as Wizard of Oz characters for a whole different story!

After the kids were in bed, Mama could not resist setting it all up 'just so'!! Ha ha, yes we are all kids at heart, right?!