Christmas with a baby

Llama is waaaayy to young to have any idea about Christmas. And I'm liking it.

We've decided not to go overboard (and not just because we're down to one income at the moment). This year, he will receive a hardcover book that he can look at later, and read the (yet to be determined) message we have for him.

However, having a child means that Joe & I need to think a bit harder about what we do as a family at Christmas.

I've been doing some thinking about Santa over the last few weeks (check out my SIL's thoughts here). When I had figured out the truth about Santa, and let it slip to my parents (we all lived in denial for a few years), they said that my brother and I could have one lot of presents a year, either presents from them, or presents from Santa. We weren't silly, Santa gave us heaps more presents, so we opted for him as the gift giver.

When I became Christian I was struck by how different Jesus is from Santa.

The premise behind Santa is, if you behave yourself (all year), you will get presents ... a reward for being good. Regardless of how naughty I may have been during the year, I still managed to get presents. Santa was a bit of a soft touch.

The Bible tells us the truth. We aren't 'good' all year. We can't even go a day without indicating to God that we don't need him (either actively or passively). And God is no soft touch. When we reject him, it matters.

But God is so much more merciful than Santa.

Even though we do reject Him, he sent His Son (Jesus), as our extra special Christmas present. Jesus was good ALL YEAR, EVERY YEAR, and if we ask God for forgiveness, we can claim Jesus' goodness as our own.

So Joe and I have decided that for our family, Christmas is going to be about Jesus, not Santa. We celebrate what God has done through Jesus everyday. And once a year we get a holiday to help us stop and think that extra bit more. We pray that you will too.