Parental Failure

A few days ago I was talking to my friend Corrine about Christmas. She was telling me that her girls knew the true meaning of Christmas and I felt confident that my children also knew. So imagine my immense disappointment when I found out that wasn't the case.

Koby knows-which is good since he is 12 years old and knows all the 'secrets' about Christmas. He didn't ask for anything unreasonable for Christmas and he has asked if we could do secret Santa again this year. He asked if he could use his own money to buy a gift for Morgan. He seems to "get it".

That's the good news and now for the bad...

I asked Morgan if she knew why we really celebrate Christmas and without pausing to think she said, "Yes, Christmas is about the presents!"

In a calm, still hopeful voice I said, "Well there are presents, but what else?"

After a thoughtful pause, "Oh yeah, Santa!"

I wanted to cry! I mean we read the Christmas story from the bible every year, we even have the kids dress up and play Joseph and Mary. We try and do service through the whole month of December. When we set up our nativity set we talk about each piece. We have done secret Santa and yet Morgan doesn't know why we celebrate Christmas!

So rather than despair and give up hope that I will one day be a good mother and teach my children all that they need to know I have come up with a plan! (I always have plans for everything-just ask Steve!)

First I made a little 12 days of Christmas advent calender. I put pictures and suggestions of activities in 12 separate envelopes. Some ideas are: make cookies for the neighbors, read Luke 2, spend time as a family playing games, making a snow man and watching holiday movies, go see the Christmas lights and talk about how Jesus is the light of the world and how the star led the Shepherds to Jesus. That's a few of my suggestions.

Second, we are going to buy a 12 piece nativity set and give out each piece for the 12 days of Christmas to someone that we feel needs a special boost for Christmas. Each day we will talk about a different piece of the set and why they are important.

I hope that helps Morgan to remember that the most important things are not the presents but the memories, the feelings of love and unity and most of all our Savior's birth, his life and his sacrifices.