My two sweethearts in front of a the Cheng's Christmas tree!
One of many attempts at Christmas photos. What a ham we have. Here she is pointing out her belly button.I've been thinking a lot about this whole 'Santa' thing. We haven't done anything with Isabella well because she's simply too young to understand. In fact she's been playing with one of her Christmas gifts (the box anyway) for the past few days. (there's just no place to store anything) But I've been reading and hearing a lot about how different families incorporate Santa into their Christmas and it got me thinking about what Christians do. So I polled those living in our flat right now and surprisingly got three different answers:
1. Mike--Santa was just a fun idea of Christmas. The focus was more on Jesus' birth although Santa did bring the big gift of the day.
2. Hannah--Santa was of the devil. LOL Just kidding. The focus was definitely on Jesus' birth and they felt that Santa took away from this.
3. Me--Santa was real (well at least until I was about 8 or so...he he) and brought several gifts.
As fun as getting and giving gifts is on Christmas, I definitely want Isabella to grow up understanding the real meaning of this holiday. That's why we make a cake and sing 'Happy Birthday' to Jesus on Christmas morning and use the advent wreath and readings. But I also want her to enjoy the fun aspects of this holiday including a visit to see Santa or the fun of writing him letters of Christmas wishes. But I just don't think I want her to believe that he is real. I think we can have fun with this idea without taking away from Christ's birth but I would love to hear how you (or if you) incorporate Santa into your holiday without taking away the real meaning of the holiday.
Tomorrow's our Children's Christmas program and I'm both excited and nervous. We haven't had the greatest attendance at our practices so I'm praying everyone will arrive on time for our final run through and that it will go smoothly but you know what... I think any time you dress up little children and put them on stage it'll be cute and the parents will love it. LOL
1. Mike--Santa was just a fun idea of Christmas. The focus was more on Jesus' birth although Santa did bring the big gift of the day.
2. Hannah--Santa was of the devil. LOL Just kidding. The focus was definitely on Jesus' birth and they felt that Santa took away from this.
3. Me--Santa was real (well at least until I was about 8 or so...he he) and brought several gifts.
As fun as getting and giving gifts is on Christmas, I definitely want Isabella to grow up understanding the real meaning of this holiday. That's why we make a cake and sing 'Happy Birthday' to Jesus on Christmas morning and use the advent wreath and readings. But I also want her to enjoy the fun aspects of this holiday including a visit to see Santa or the fun of writing him letters of Christmas wishes. But I just don't think I want her to believe that he is real. I think we can have fun with this idea without taking away from Christ's birth but I would love to hear how you (or if you) incorporate Santa into your holiday without taking away the real meaning of the holiday.
Tomorrow's our Children's Christmas program and I'm both excited and nervous. We haven't had the greatest attendance at our practices so I'm praying everyone will arrive on time for our final run through and that it will go smoothly but you know what... I think any time you dress up little children and put them on stage it'll be cute and the parents will love it. LOL
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