SANTA IN THE MANGER

My grand son Landon and I just got through doing something that some of you with toddler children and grand children might like to do. I find it such an abstract thing to try to teach very young ones about the true meaning of Christmas---that it is a celebration of Christ's birth, (they really get excited about Santa though, which is fine.) Well, last year I bought several boxes of assorted, glittery, sweet, religious themed Christmas cards for probably 50 cents each. I also have lots of Holiday stickers and return labels in the mail (since I donated to Special Olympics every organization is sending me little incentives and requests for donations.) I sat down with Landon and asked him if he wanted to fill out a card for his mom and dad. He was so excited, I let him pick out which card he wanted to give to each parent and he decorated them with stickers, colored them, and I helped him write his name in them. As we looked through the cards, I told him about each scene on the front, the Wise Men, shepherds, angels, Bethlehem, the star in the sky, baby Jesus in the manger with the animals all around...all the pics that were on the front. We opened the cards and read the simple Christmas messages that were imprinted in them. His little eyes were shining as we went through the bright colored cards. He really seemed to pay attention and repeated things that I asked him about the cards as he decorated them. After he got his mom and dad's done, I gave him the box, stickers, etc. and them let him color, sticker, etc. all the ones he wanted. I think I'll do this every year. You can get Christmas cards and stickers for a dime on the dollar after Christmas. We had so much fun, and it wasn't just all about Santa. (We did have some Santa stickers too though...we put him in the manger :) Happy Holidays and Merry Christmas!!