Jesus IS the Reason

As much as I love fall, it brings me great joy to ring in the Christmas season by putting away my fall decorations and getting out the red and green bins that are filled with ornaments and decorations that have such sentimental value.  The magic of the season was displayed in Jonathan's eyes as he got more and more excited as he helped decorate the Christmas tree.  I'll admit, it was much easier keeping Christmas in perspective at the beginning of the holiday season.  We talk about the reason we celebrate Christmas on an almost daily basis in our home because we do not want Jonathan to get so caught up in the fun and busyness of the season that he forgets Jesus.  Darin and I have chosen not to teach Jonathan about Santa because we want his focus to be on Jesus.  However, he has learned about Santa through books and movies and friends.  Up until last week, he still thought Santa was just pretend, but now that he has met Santa (while we were caroling with our church), he knows he's "real," and not just a character in movies and books.  We don't mind that Jonathan talks about Santa, but we do not encourage his belief in him.

So, we will not be writing letters to Santa, or threatening Jonathan with the "naughty or nice" list.  And there will not be gifts from Santa under our tree.  Rather, we will think of Jesus, and celebrate his birth.  Through our family devotions, Jonathan is learning quite a bit about Mary and Joseph, and Jesus' birth.  He's even been talking about "mean" King Herod, and how he wanted to kill baby Jesus, so Joseph and Mary took Jesus and fled to Egypt.  He certainly knows a lot more than I did at that age!  We will also be baking a cake for Jesus, and enjoying a piece on Christmas morning before we open gifts.  Jonathan has decided to make a white confetti cake with chocolate icing.  He would like the cake to be small, and have candles.  He's really looking forward to making the cake and being able to sing "Happy Birthday" to Jesus.  I'm looking forward to this becoming a part of our family tradition at Christmastime.

However you choose to spend Christmas with your family, I hope and pray that it is a merry season for you, and that you are able to find Jesus in the little and big things this time of year, and always.

The ornaments were like little treasures to him.

Lining up the ornaments before Daddy put the hooks on them.

Jonathan's side of the tree is certainly "over decorated", but I wouldn't change a thing.

Putting the gingerbread man on the tree!

We never had a star for our tree, and the star is pretty important to Jonathan.  So, Daddy took him to the store and let him pick one out all by himself.  He was SO incredibly proud of his star!

Love.

Somebody did a great job decorating the tree!