How the Children Can Understand Christmas

Christmas is by our biggest holiday. It permeates our society. Every family emphasizes different parts of the holiday to fit their beliefs and those are passed down to their children. Some aspects of it though are almost universal, like the Santa letter. Every child loves getting a letter from Santa as well as gifts weather they are under a tree or not. But recognizing what you teach your kids about Christmas will stay with them, meld with their spouse’s, and then passed on to their own children. Parents need to think about the way they handle Christmas as they are lifelong lessons.

Many people stick almost exclusively with the secular Christmas. That means only Santa and gifts, Christmas trees, lighted lawns, and so on. It is easy to see the appeal. After all, who, especially children, doesn’t like getting gifts and getting wrapped up in the magic of Santa Clause. Who has not driven a little out of their way just to see that house that pulled out all the stops and has a yard so bright you can read by it and drawing enough power to light up Giant’s Stadium. How about the grown women wearing fuzzy antlers? There is a little humor in the way people get a little carried away. And that does not ever mention all the Christmas goodies (well, except fruit cake, nobody gets excited about fruit cake). Why shouldn’t you?

The secular Christmas has the best marketing. Many businesses live and die with the season. Every store harkens you in with pretty widow dressings and sales and it is fun. For a short time we suspend belief and live in the magical word of Santa.

Other people gravitate to the religious aspects of Christmas. Sure, nobody really knows what day Jesus was born so they picked one. The date was actually chosen because it fell on a Pagan holiday. They thought it would help conversions if Christianity had a holiday at the same time. The fact that it was near Hanukah didn’t hurt. Regardless of why the day was picked as the date to celebrate the birth of the Lord, the stories around it are epic and it is a beautiful story of the birth of a special boy. The events surround it cast their own spell. Yes the secular Christmas songs are good (especially “Grandma got run over by a Reindeer”) but nothing really compares to the Christmas Hymns. These religious roots are at the heart of many families and are being passed down to the next generation.

Still others treat it as an altruistic holiday. They see it more as a season of giving. They give clothes to families in need and maybe some toys for little children so they don’t have to go to school and hear about the toys their friends got and that one child didn’t get anything. They know that feeling of warmth you get by helping someone in need. Even taking a child to a store to pick a toy for donation is a fascinating experience. They will wrestle with the decision forever trying to pick a perfect gift. Some families open almost all their gifts on Christmas Eve just so they can go to their church or a shelter to help pass out food (in Atlanta, Hosea William’s Feed the Hungry program has survived his death and severs thousands of Christmas dinners with the help of hundreds of volunteers). It is a wonderful thing to teach a child.

Nobody follow just one strict idea of Christmas but rather a blend of them. Use the all.