Joey and Carla Link
December 18, 2024
In the midst of the hustle and bustle of the Christmas season, how do you make the nativity the focal point of your kids Christmas celebration? This is an especially difficult task in a culture that wants to remove Jesus from the holiday season altogether. Deuteronomy 6:7-9 says the best way to teach your children is to talk with them as you go about your daily life. In our family, we made it a point to find ways to encourage our children’s focus to be on celebrating Jesus, not just on the list of things they were hoping to open on Christmas Day.
We did not allow them to write ‘Christmas’ this way – ‘Xmas’, because it removed Christ. We would encourage them to say “Merry Christmas” to anyone who said “Happy Holidays” to them. Not that there is anything wrong with “Happy Holidays” in and of itself, but our culture is trying to replace Christ with it. So, if a store clerk says, “Happy Holidays” to your kids, we encourage you to respond “Merry Christmas!” with them.
The month of December is a great time to show your kids how to serve others. Plan now to do the Samaritan’s Purse shoeboxes next Christmas (collection week is mid-November). Find out which organizations in your area are sponsoring coat and warm accessories drives. Have your kids do extra chores and pay them so they can add their money to the amount needed to purchase some things for the drive or shoebox. Have each child pick out something like mittens, gloves, or hats that will fit someone their age. There are so many ways to serve families in need.
To make Christ the central focus on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day, get a large empty box and put tissue in the bottom. Lay a Bible on the tissue that is open to Chapter 2 in the book of Luke. Have a bookmark in John 3:16 and Luke 24:1-11. Place a cross in the box too. Buy chocolate gold medallions and fill the bottom of the box with these. The medallions symbolize value and royalty. Buy or make a crown to place in the box as well.
Wrap the box in glittery gold wrapping paper with a purple bow (purple is the color of royalty). Don’t wrap any other gift in this paper. Make a tag and put the names of everyone who will be present when your family opens their gifts on Christmas Day. Save this box for the last gift or for a special family time after Christmas dinner and choose a child to open it. If your children are old enough, have one of them read Luke, Chapter 2. The best way to keep children involved in a conversation is to ask them questions. Ask them why it was important for Jesus to spend time on earth. Pass the cross around and have another child read John 3:16. Ask your kids why it was important that Jesus died on a cross. Why couldn’t he die at home in bed? Ask them what they think it would have felt like to have nails driven into their hands and feet and left hanging until they died? Have a large nail in the box to show them.
Give everyone present a piece of the candy and pass the crown around. Have a child read Matthew 2:1-2. While everyone loves babies, ask them if they think a baby can rule the world. So why did God send His Son, who was supposed to be the King of the world as a baby instead of a full-grown man? Ask your children if any of the presents they received begin to have the value of eternal life, the greatest gift we will ever receive.
Have another child read Luke 24 and ask those present how they know Jesus is real if they can’t see Him. Have everyone share how their life is different because Jesus lives in their heart. Ask them why we get and give gifts on Christmas. Taking time to read Luke 2 as a family before or after we opened gifts was one of the ways we made sure to keep Jesus’ birth the focus of Christmas when our kids were growing up.
Carla and I wish each of you a blessed Christmas holiday as you celebrate the most precious gift we will ever receive with your loved ones.
“For God so loved the world, that He gave his only Son,
that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.”
John 3:16
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