We are continuing to celebrate this season making memories, talking about the true meaning of Christmas, and doing fun things. Last night...our annual trip to Yonkers, GA to see the house that's decorated with lots of Christmas lights. You can get out, walk around, visit Santa, and even sign a guest book. It's short, but so worth it! Then we drove around town and looked at more Christmas lights. It's become one of my favorite things to do during the holidays.
I think this is my kids' first picture with Santa Claus. Crazy, huh?! We have nothing against Santa, but I just want to make sure that Sophie knows the true meaning of Christmas. It is so hard to make our teaching of Jesus being the focus of Christmas more important that the constant message of Christmas being about Santa. The kids see this on tv, the computer, and talking to friends and family. Last night I kind of laughed as we were walking up to the lights and Sophie saw lit up Santa Clauses and she said, loudly, "I know Santa isn't real, Mom." I was like, "Sophie, that's our family secret. Some other kids don't know the secret yet and we wouldn't want to spoil anything for them." A few minutes later she was explaining to Isaac that Santa had a toy machine and they could go tell Santa what they wanted for Christmas and they could get it. Too funny. There's a lot of mixed messages that kids get over this holiday. The one I want to be most important is that the reason we celebrate is because of Jesus. Just Him. He is worthy of our celebrating this time of year for Him. Our gifts are given to honor Him and His birth. All the other stuff is fun and we enjoy that, too. Here's a song that I really enjoy that reminds us of what this holiday is about. Merry Christmas to all of you! God bless!