What is Christmas?

That's the question that Jason asked our children a few days ago.  What is Christmas?

They had all kinds of answers.   

• It's cold outside.
• There's lots of snow.
• Christmas trees.
• Twinkly Christmas lights.
• Songs....Away in the Manger, Joy to the World, Silent Night (all of their current favorites)
• Candy
• Gingerbread houses
• Cookies with icing on top
• Christmas presents

Answers were shouted from right and left.  One right after the other, they picked something else that made them think of Christmas.

I was sitting a short distance away on pins and needles wondering if they would ever get to the real answer.  Wondering if I, as their mommy, had failed to point out what all the hoopla is about.

Finally.  Addie started jumping up and down....giggling as only a little girl can do.  "I know, I know!" she shouted.  (There is nothing quiet about her.) "It's baby Jesus!  It's when he was borned and put in that feeder thingy!  It's his birthday!!  That's why we get presents!  Wait.  (with a quite puzzled look on her face)  Why do we get presents on Jesus' birthday?  I don't get presents for Will's birthday."

Good question, my dear.  We tried in vain to explain why we get gifts for Jesus' birthday.  We told them that we are celebrating His birthday....remembering Him.  She reminded us that we remember Him every day.....so why can't we always have Christmas presents?

We don't do much to celebrate Christmas as a little family.  Last Sunday, we let them open a gift that actually came from a garage sale.  Chutes and Ladders.  Guess what we spent that afternoon doing?! 

This Sunday we will have the remainder of our "Christmas".  Each child gets one small gift (all from garage sales this year, ironically, meaning that we spent about $5 per child) and their stocking (which is filled mainly with socks....something that they really need right before heading off to Russia in the dead of winter!).  They can't wait.  It really doesn't matter to them that they aren't getting much.  They never have.  It doesn't matter to them that the gifts they are receiving aren't brand new.  Very rarely do they get anything that is brand new.

You may think our approach is strange.  That's okay.  We would rather that our children understand why the manger scene is up than that they come to expect huge, expensive gifts. 

January 7th we usually give them another Christmas gift.  January 7th is when the Russians celebrate Christmas and we like to keep some of the Russian traditions here as well.  We usually attempt to decorate our table the same way that Russians do (so we hear) for Christmas.  A white table-cloth, symbolic of Christ's swaddling clothes, covers the Table. Hay is brought forth as a reminder of the poverty of the Cave where Jesus was born. A tall white candle is place in the center of the Table, symbolic of Christ "the Light of the World." A large round loaf of Lenten bread, "pagach," symbolic of Christ the Bread of Life, is placed next to the Candle.  (Taken from Russian-Crafts.com)  The children love it.  They love it when we remember that they are from Russia.  They love to pretend that we are there.

Our meal isn't quite what a Russian's would be for Christmas.  We make Borsch (which is delicious) and have some kind of bread. 

This year, though, things are a little different.  Rather than having our normal Russian Christmas, we're just going to head to Russia on 'Christmas Day'.  I doubt that it will become a new tradition. 

So that's us.  We talk about why we celebrate Christmas in the first place.  We try to imagine what it would have been like to live back when Jesus was born.  We read the Christmas story over and over (Matthew 1-2 and Luke 2).  We put ourselves in Mary's place....and in Joseph's.  We try to instill in our children that it's not what we get that matters so much as what we give.  We pray that they are catching on to the TRUE meaning of Christmas.

Jesus, who came so that we get to have LIFE. 

May we all remember that as we hustle and bustle our way through the coming week.