Busy with Christmas

Since I left you with such an air of negativity on my last post I wanted to update you real quick. In less that 48 hours I have decorated the mantel with my small Santa collection and put out our nativity set and a few other decorations ( now if I could only get the empty bins put away...ahh one thing at a time). I have gotten invitations out to our neighborhood cookie decorating party and brunch that we will host. I have baked some things for my husbands work holiday lunch and I did a craft with my kids and 2 other neighborhood kids. We made mini nativity sets (Mary, Joseph, and baby Jesus). I think they came out really cute and it was so fun to get to share with these precious kids the meaning behind Christmas. Then, they got to take them home to their houses and proudly display them. They were excited about it and I pray that it brings many questions and godly conversations into those homes. I would say a lot can change in two days...thanks for letting be a grump for a day, I am feeling much better! Here a few pictures of our craft project.

Kids and their Nativity Sets

Busy Crafting

my little artists!

And how can I leave out the most adorable baby around?

Also, I have been meaning to share with you a post my friend, Hannah, did. If any of you are interested in some ideas of fun things to do with your kids she has lots of ideas. Go here and check it out. She also talks about how they have decided to celebrate Christmas...The whole, should we do Santa issue. I don't think there is a right or wrong on this issue, I think that is an individual family decision. She shares what they have decided and I will tell you where we are. Santa is part of our culture. Our kids will hear about him. There is just no getting around that so this is what we decided, we don't push Santa. We don't threaten with Santa and we don't make a big issue of Santa coming or not. We talk about Jesus and the reason for the Christmas and we answer questions or have conversations about other things as they present them. My husband has said it well by saying we want them to think of Santa much the way they think of Superman or Spider man. They are fun pretend characters and we see nothing wrong with that. We play along with Spider man conversations so why not play along with this. We just want our kids to really focus on Jesus and we have found so far that since we talk so much more about Jesus than Santa they are much more concerned with that as well. Kids see where our hearts are and they tend to follow suit. I am not sure what I would say if my kids flat out asked me if Santa is real, but I guess we will cross that bridge when we get there. My guess is I would pose the question right back to them and let them lead the conversation. I may not have described this well so if you have questions or comments I would love to hear them. Happy Holidays!