Australia is nuts. We all go crazy over Christmas. The shopping centres are packed. Sales are off the hook. Coles and Woolies have been selling their Christmas gear for the past 3 months (and will have Easter Eggs on the shelves on Boxing Day). But Aussies have no idea why they get into Christmas. We wanna get into the Christmas spirit, and yet we have no snow. We don't have reindeers here. And the concept of Santa at the North Pole is just an oddity here. Even the concept of being naughty or nice flies in the face of so much of how we operate in our be yourself culture. Yet, there is good cheer in the air. People do tend to have more goodwill than normal and joy is in the air; even if it is short-lived and misguided. So how do we as Christian parents help our kids focus on Jesus? How do we get them to care more about him than presents? How do we help them to experience the greater joy that ought to come from the best news ever? How do we get our kids being the most excited Aussie kids this Christmas? Well here is the first of a few short posts packed with little ideas...
What to focus on?
As we read the story of Jesus' birth in the gospels there are 2 major elements about his coming that they really draw out. 1) The King has come 2) The Saviour has come We want to help our kids celebrate Jesus. And his birth is such good news, because the best ruler of all time has come to establish peace, order and goodness. And he has come to bring us salvation! News doesn't get any better than this. These are the things to focus in on with your kids this Christmas.
The Christmas Promise
One book that will really help you do this with your kids is The Christmas Promise by Alison Mitchell.
It incredibly helpfully describes Jesus as both a rescuing king and the forever king. These elements are worth reflecting on with our kids.
Get the book here
Get the shorter board book version here
The one to set us free
EV Kids have given us one of the best kids Christmas songs to reflect on. The One To Set Us Free reflects wonderfully on the Christmas story. The line "the king of heaven left his throne to die" captures up our two themes of Jesus the king and saviour. Why not download it from itunes or spotify?
Some chill music for parents
There are so many Christmas albums out there. Sometimes with all the noise in our houses every day we just need something a bit more chill. Here are a couple of easy listening Christmas albums for mum and dad:
Let's help our kids be captured by what really matters this Christmas. Stay tuned for more Christmas posts over the coming weeks. Would really love to hear what you have found helpful to do at Christmas in the comments below too!
See more Christmas posts here