A Toddler Christmas

Last year, my daughter had really no idea what Christmas was and in some ways, that was kind of nice. But this year, she is definitely more clued in. Unfortunately, it feels like all of the attention during the Christmas season goes to Santa and asking for presents. The other day in the car, my daughter was practicing asking Santa for a bike, over and over. Sometimes she even included a "peeze Santa" (please) and several times she added "and candy" to her short list of requests. I love that she's getting the whole Santa idea straight in her head before we make the trip to Santa's lap, but as a Christian, I realize that it's my job to be purposeful about how we begin to explain Christmas to our young daughter.

She is not even 2 yet, so we definitely keep it simple, but we try to instill that Christmas is Jesus' birthday and that we believe that Jesus was the son of God. We try to explain that Jesus' birth was a miracle. We also want to remind her what it means to be Christ-like, and that the season is not all about getting presents. Unfortunately, even as adults it can be super hard not to get caught up in the "buying holiday spirit" and catch a case of the "I wants."

These are a few things that we have started in an attempt to remind our daughter about the true meaning of the season.

1. Giving is Better than Receiving: It's a great time to go through that play room and bag up toys that are no longer used. We talk about how there are children that will love these toys and might otherwise not get any toys. We deliver these toys to Goodwill because they are gently used. This helps to clear out the play room before more toys arrive, and it's also a great tradition to start. It's hard for a toddler to understand at first, but after some talk and getting her involved in choosing the toys, my daughter was on board. She also came with me to drop them off.
2. Cookies and Treats are for Sharing: My daughter loves making cookies with me because the dough is so fun to make into balls, and you better believe I use the pre-made dough (don't give me too much credit over here). The baking is fun, but the best part is delivering them to people that help the community. We drop them off for the local firemen and we also give some to our mailman. My daughter gets really excited about giving them the cookies and she's proud that she helped make them. I'm trying to show her to always show appreciation for the people that work hard every day to make our community better.
3. Thank the Teachers: Obviously, I taught for ten years and know exactly how hard teachers work every single day. I believe that it's important to thank them and show your appreciation in some way. We gave a gift card to Starbucks to our daughter's Mother's Morning out teachers and made sure to include a message about how grateful we are for all they do. My daughter was excited to give them their gifts and tell them "thank you."
4. Purchase and Donate a New Toy for a Child In Need: We go shopping together for a toy for a child in need. In this case it was Toys for Tots and my daughter picked out a new toy for a little girl about her age. She was a little sad to donate the toy because she kept wishing that she could keep it, but then she would say, "kids will be happy." She knew it was the right thing to do.
5. Bless Someone that Needs a Blessing: And lastly, every year my husband and I put it in our Christmas budget to bless someone that needs a blessing. We generally do this anonymously because sometimes, it's even better that way. There is always someone in our life that has been a blessing to us or others that deserves to be blessed themselves, like the woman that watches the children at the gym, the kind waiter at our favorite restaurant, or a bus driver at your child's school. My daughter has not seen us do this yet, but I know that one day she will, and that's important to us that she too will want to give without reward. If you've never done this, I highly recommend it. It is my favorite part of the season.     

So, I guess the bottom line is that while we're busy getting the perfect family photo for that perfect family holiday card, decorating the perfect Christmas tree (or in some cases, trees), covering the house in lights, having a little too much fun at a Christmas party, or standing in those crazy long lines to see Santa or just to check out at Target... Remember the reason for the season and try to be purposeful with what you say and do because after all, it's not just Santa that's watching.