One of my blogging friends, Lara, posted a link on Facebook today that looked intriguing. It was for an e-book called Truth is in Tinsel by Amanda White. After checking it out, I purchased my own copy for $4.99.
The book is broken up into 24 days, and we'll start it today. Each day includes a short Scripture reading, points to discuss, and a simple craft. Each craft is an ornament for the tree. (Today's craft looks really fun--a candle made with tissue paper and construction paper.) There's even a "picture and word clue" for the kids to listen to during each daily Bible reading, and when they hear it, we'll take a strip of paper with that word on it (included in the book) and add it to a paper chain.
It's a PDF download, so you don't need a Kindle or other e-book reader to read the book. (And while it's in color, I just now printed it on my black-and-white printer and I'm pretty sure that'll work fine.) It's $4.99, and I think it'll be a really good way for me to help my kids think about the birth of Jesus, and what He means in our lives. They get plenty of Santa information from other sources. This year I'd like them to learn more about Jesus at home!
Click here to check out Truth in the Tinsel. You can even download one day for free.
Disclosure: I was not compensated in any way for this blog post, and I purchased my own copy of the e-book.
5 comments:
You are right, there is so much Santa-talk all over the place, it's nice to focus on the 'reason of the season' and that is Jesus.
Sounds like a great way to celebrate his birth and the present that God gave us so many years ago.
The book sounds really cute, Beth. I know this time of year is a challenge for parents of all beliefs and religions. Some go with Santa. Some go with Christ. I just read a really thoughtful post from a Buddhist friend who celebrates Losar in February. Plus, Liz @ Eternal Lizdom has a post today about how she handles Santa in her Christian home.
I think the most important thing is that you give it some thought and consciously decide what you want to focus on and teach them while still being respectful of the choices others make for their families.
I think Santa is kind of magical and awesome at Zoodle's age but this book sounds like a really great way to help you and the kids find some focus on the religious side of things.
That sounds like a really great book for this time of year. Like Cate said it is a challenge to balance things this time of year with so many different faiths and the commercialization that has happened to the holidays. If each faith doesn't take a few steps to ground back to what it is they are celebrating we might lose it over the generations. I love that you are taking that step to help remind your kids what it is really all about.
I went to a Catholic School until 7th grade. We were taught by nuns (in full habit). Every school day we studied religion. And at Christmas time, we also had fun things to do involving Santa and elves and reindeer. I was never confused about the separate roles. Christmas was for celebrating the birth of Jesus. One of the ways we celebrated was to learn about giving, gratitude, and wonder by the appearance of Santa. Even as a child I knew that Christmas was about Jesus first and then Santa. Worked well.
What a neat book! My roommate and I made an advent calendar with activities to do this holiday season. I'm kind of ashamed that none of the activities have anything to do with Christ. Although some are about doing things for others!
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