'Tis the season to be greeeeeedy....

A couple weeks ago, I got an email from my best friend, about her oldest son, who's six.  It was another of those fine moments in raising children:

I was doing my Bible story with Buddy at bedtime the other day and took a little different tack with it.  I talked to him about Christmas prophecies, quoting some of them, explaining them, and telling him how the Israelites learned them and waited for hundreds of years for the Messiah to come to fulfill them.  I explained that they were looking for the wrong things and misunderstood the prophets, and that when Jesus actually came and was in their midst, they completely missed him!

I then tried to make it applicable to us on a kid level, explaining to Buddy that people in our day and age get carried away with all the Christmas festivities, decorating, presents, and the like, and that we're so focused on what we think of as Christmas that we miss the true meaning of it and forget all about Baby Jesus.  I emphasized that we need to remember Jesus is the reason for the season and not to push him aside or forget about him.

Buddy listened quietly, taking it all in and then very somberly said, "Mommy, I hate to tell  you, but when we open our toys, I'm gonna forget all about Jesus."

I grinned and told him that was okay, Jesus wouldn't mind that, and that's why we'd tell the Christmas story before we opened our gifts.

I'm pretty sure I relieved him of his guilt at that moment, but I think that comment will go down in the annals of our family history.

We have yet to have a conversation like that one.  I'm sure it's coming, though.

One thing we have done this year is try to emphasize that we have lots, and there are little boys and girls who don't have very much in this world.  So I took Large Fry shopping with me at Five Below, and we picked out things for two shoeboxes for Operation Christmas Child.  And yesterday, Hubby and the twin Fries went through the toy room, and picked out a bunch of toys that they don't really need or want anymore, to donate to the work and witness team from our church that's going to Nicaragua just after Christmas.  Nearly every fast-food kids'-meal toy they've gotten in the last year or so went into a bag to be donated.

We are so proud of them.