I can not now remember what the comment was that little Albert made but basically he said that Christmas was all about the gifts. It hit me then that I put WAY to much into the gifts of Christmas morning. My kids only thought of Jesus birthday after the gifts they were getting. That was all wrong. We no longer buy our children lots of gifts. Santa does come but he gives 1 gift only to each child. Then Albert and I give each child a few things. We do not buy a lot. At first I was a bit worried my kids would be upset they didn't get more. But you know they weren't. Our gifts are thoughtful and well planned for each child.
Last year was really the first year we really changed how we did Christmas. Our focus as a family is finally where it should be. The gift we focus on is the gift given by God to us. We aren't celebrating 'get presents day' as Albert once called it. We are celebrating the birth of a very special baby. Jesus for us comes first!
Each day in December leading up to the 25th we do an activity, learn a bible verse, hear a story, sing a song or a combination of things that teach the Christmas story. Today we started our Christmas story.
Today we talked about how the coming of Jesus was foretold and how the people were waiting for the blessed day to come. So just like them we wait for the special day when we celebrate the birth of God's son and his most precious gift to us Jesus Christ!! Our nativity is quite empty right now but it we will fill up as the days go by. Today we prepared our stable. We also placed a gift bag there as a symbol of the coming of a very precious gift from God. Sarah packaged our baby Jesus nativity piece so nicely in the gift bag. On Christmas day this will be the first gift we open.
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