Ahh, Christmastime as a parent. Christmas is a busy time of year for anyone, but as someone with young children, there’s an added pressure in the air. There are all the things to remember—buying gifts for your children’s teachers, bringing cookies after the Christmas concert, and perfectly coordinating schedules so you can attend as many Christmas parties and family gatherings as possible.
Making Memories
But perhaps the biggest pressure on parents this time of year is summed up in two words: making memories.
We feel the weight of our kids’ childhood in our hands. We want to fill our Decembers with every magical moment of cute Santa pictures, the perfect gift under the tree, making cookies with grandma, and the most adorable matching Christmas dresses you’ve ever seen.
And there’s nothing inherently wrong with any of that. Of course I want my kids to have special memories from Christmas.
But in all of this pressure, it is oh so easy to forget this one important truth: As parents, our primary job is not to give our kids a magical Christmas. Our job is to point them to Christ, born on Christmas Day, to give them hope, peace, joy, forgiveness, and eternal salvation.
It takes a shift in mindset, but with simple changes in our priorities, we can make sure Christ is at the center of all our children’s Christmas memories. As you find what works best for your family this season, keep these two key concepts at the front of your mind: touch and habit.
Touch
I have a video on my phone of my three-year-old son picking up each nativity piece and telling me what it is. In his version, there was one baby Jesus, one mommy, the angel was a camel, and everyone else was a Wise Man. After I finished laughing, I had the opportunity to correct him and tell him more about Joseph, Mary, the angel, the shepherds, and the Christ Child born to save him from his sins.
Take every chance you get to let your children touch and feel the special things of this holy season. For older kids, have them light the Advent candles each night at supper or help hang the greens at church. For younger kiddos like mine, find a nativity they can really hold, carry around in their chubby little fingers, and even play with.
A punch-out nativity set, like this new 12-piece set with Arch® Books, is a great way to get kids of all ages to hold the Christmas story in their hands and talk about the real gift of Christ for us. You can pop out and assemble a piece each night and discuss it with your child, or make an afternoon or evening out of it and assemble the entire set at once. Weave the three included Arch Books into the season during bedtime or devotion routines. Answer your children’s questions as you go, and let them display the nativity scene where they can see and interact with it.
As simple as it sounds, allowing your child to be a part of your church’s and home’s physical displays at Christmas time can help remind them of the ultimate gift of Jesus.
Another great resource you can use to explore the Christmas story through touch is My First Christmas: A Touch-and-Feel Bible Story, which is ideal for babies and toddlers, who love observing the world around them. With friendly illustrations, simple language, and textures to feel, this book is great in a church busy bag or as a stocking stuffer for your small children.
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Habit
If you’re like me, you are a creature of habit. If I don’t do something on a consistent and regular basis, I’ll probably forget. So whatever you decide to do to help your child focus on Christ this Christmas, make it part of your daily routine. Take these ideas and find what works best for your family’s routine:
- Have a Bible by your table and read a few verses from Luke 2:1–21 each night at supper. I find that reading from the Bible, an Arch Book, or Bible story book at mealtimes accomplishes two wonderful things for my young kids: (1) It teaches them about Jesus, and (2) it gets them to actually sit at the table and eat instead of running around like crazy. Win-win!
- Get out a basket and fill it with all the Christmas Arch Books and Christmas books you can find in your house, then let your child pick one each night for a bedtime story. Don’t have many? Check your church library!
- Sing or listen to hymns about Christ as often as you can. This could be as simple as singing “Silent Night” as you rock your baby or toddler to sleep throughout the Advent and Christmas season. Or maybe you find a playlist of Christian hymns to play in the car as you pick your kids up from school every day. Keeping it simple and consistent is key, and your heart will melt when you hear their little voices singing along to the sweet words proclaiming our Savior’s birth.
- Go to church. This should be obvious, but it can actually feel like “just one more thing” in an already packed December calendar. I’ve felt that temptation too. But prioritizing worship is especially important for parents this Christmas season. Building that habit of regularly coming to the Lord’s house, especially in this holy season, is perhaps the best gift we can give to our children because it points them to the one gift that will last for eternity—the gift of Jesus!
So when you feel that parental pressure to make your children’s Christmas magical and perfect, stop. Lay that pressure at the feet of Jesus and pray for guidance and strength as you teach your children to remember the real gift of Christ this Christmas.
Give your children a hands-on experience to help them prepare for Christ’s birth with this new bundle of a punch-out nativity set and Arch Books!
