Now that we have a family, we are trying to solidify our meaningful Christmas traditions.
This winter, my bride and I discovered that we have the following traditions, firmly rooted in our six years of marriage:
1. Christmas photo (usually collage) and Christmas letter (in newsletter form, not just well-wishing)
2. Gifts
3. Stockings on the mantle for each family member
Now with children, we are trying to establish some more:
4. Christmas tree plus busting out the ornaments and lights
5. Christmas lights for the house
6. Advent
7. Singing Christmas carols as a family at least once a day every day between Thanksgiving and Christmas
8. Reading the Christmas story on Christmas Eve
9. Opening gifts on Christmas day
10. Family Christmas photo
Here are some that we've toyed with the last couple of years:
11. Christmas feast - prime rib, of course
12. Traveling
Some fragments of tradition from our childhood:
13. Extended family celebration and gifts on Christmas Eve: Christmas day for nuclear family
14. Christmas Sunday service / Christmas Mass
And finally, we're not sure how we're going handle the Santa Claus tradition.
I propose that all of our traditions should flow from the reason for the season. Hopefully we're not too far off the mark.
What are your Christmas traditions?
Wednesday, December 24, 2008
Christmas Traditions
Posted by Theo at 8:22 PM
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5 comments:
James 1:17
Every good and perfect gift..........
How could Santa fit into that truth and what beneficial truth would your children be learning?
From Dad: I think Santa takes care of himself eventually in every child's mind. Not to worry unless there's a factor involving myth's that drags in Christianity! In my humble opinion...
Interesting thoughts and speculations... Still over my head :)
I don't know that I have a problem with Santa. He is a mythical creature who has nothing to do with the birth of Christ other than they put it on the same day. We have determined to teach our children that Santa is a myth and is not the reason for the reason. We do however want to respect other children's beliefs in this myth so we are explaining to our children that while Santa Claus is not real, that other children may think he is. We honor other children's parents by not telling other kids how wrong they are. We instead encourage other kids and be the salt and light(Matt 5:13-14) of the Christmas season by expanding their narrow view of the holiday to include the complete view of their maker.
As for traditions we are fairly similar.
Our pastor gave a great talk on this topic before Christmas. He explained that there is a spectrum with the Santa story -- that one never wants to go too far to either side. He said if we deny that Santa is "real" at all, we ignore that Santa is a real character just like Tom Sawyer is a real character, one that can teach our kids lessons (e.g., anonymous giving), even though they are not actual, live people. Plus, he argued that it is a terrible thing to deprive kids of the belief that life can be magical. But if we emphasize Santa too much, of course, we completely destroy the meaning of Christmas and our kids can even confuse Santa with God (omnipresence, omnipotence, omniscient).
It seems like such a hard balance to perform, and it also seems like a balance that will have to evaluated and redrawn on a regular basis, like most parenting decisions.
I like what everybody said.
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