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Can You Have Christ and Santa In the Same Holiday? A Family Activity. What a wonderful time of year. The Spirit of Christmas is all around us. We can see it, and smell it, and taste it. It can also be a tricky time of year for parents who are trying to navigate Christ and Santa. In our home, Christ is the reason for the season, but, what about Santa? Can you have Santa and Christ at the same time? We are not against Santa. My husband and I both grew up with Santa, and are just fine with our kids "believing", but, we don't want Santa to be more important than The Birth of Our Savior Jesus Christ. We always think of Christ and Santa as opposites, but do they have to be opposites. Here is a fun activity (inspired by a recent Sunday School lesson) you can do with your families to better navigate the two. You Will Need... A picture of Christ wearing Red or White. Which is most pictures of Christ. A couple pictures would be great. My favorite is the picture of Christ knocking at the door with no door knob. You can also round up pictures of the following, or the real objects if you have them. (Wreath, Evergreen tree, Candy cane, star, gifts, and any other symbol of Christmas you want to include) Hide the picture of Christ so that your kids can't see it. Even better, put it behind something your kids can open. Then begin to explain that... "A very special guest could visit our house soon. I am going to give you some clues about him and you guess who it is." - this visitor has a beard - he loves children - he knows if you are sleeping, he knows when you are awake, he knows if you have been bad or good - you usually see pictures of him in Red and/or White clothes - he has special gifts for all of us - he can come into our homes even when the doors are locked - you can never see him, but you can feel him - he hopes we will be good so we can be ready when he comes. - he gives us a wonderful warm feeling inside - he has special powers It will only be natural that your kids will guess that your visitor is Santa. At this point, have one of your children uncover your picture of Christ, or "open" what ever is hiding the picture. The kids will be very surprised to see a picture of Christ, and more surprised to realize all the similarities between Christ and Santa. Take a few minutes and talk about how the clues apply to both. Take some time to teach your children that we can be reminded of Christ through lots of different Christmas symbols, even Santa. (Think love, service, kindness, faith and hope and believing in things you can't see). Yes, Santa can remind us of Christ and the true meaning of Christmas. Talk about other symbols of Christmas that remind us of Christ and his birth. (Evergreen trees, candy canes, wreath, star, gifts, etc...) Your kids will love this activity, and you will love its ability to focus on Christ, yet include the idea of Santa during this Holiday season. Is Santa part of your Christmas celebration? Would this work at your house? How do you keep your kids focused on the true meaning of Christmas?
How cool is what this person did: this started out as a 12x12 shed. They added the porch, salvaged cottage windows and split shingle roof.
a bit symmetrical for me, but i love this fab kids room
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