(This blog post contains affiliate links.)
Christmas is my favorite time of the year! There is just so much joy to be had everywhere you go it's infectious!!!! I simply couldn't wait to have kids so I could give the Christmas childhood my sister and I had. I have wonderful memories of family together, fabulous food, gift giving, tinsel, lights and music! I also have very fond memories of Santa, even though I knew what Christmas was really about - the birth of Jesus. Santa (or the history of the Christian saint - st Nicholas) did not take away from the fact that Christmas was to celebrate the birth of Jesus and we knew that.
As I became a parent I wondered how I would tackle balancing Santa & Jesus. My husband and I had both grown up within God believing homes, but had also experienced the fun of Santa. For me personally when I got old enough to understand I was shown where the idea of Santa had originated from (secret gift giving of St Nicholas). I realize magic flying sleighs, elves & red nosed reindeer are obviously added exaggerations, but it did add to the fun for us at such a young age - perhaps just as superhero's & princesses stories do. You realize those are not real, but I never wanted to take that away from my children either. They only make believe with this type of thing for such a small amount of time (ages 7-8 tops from my experience). We wanted to keep the fun of Santa alive for the younger years, but still teach what Christmas is really about. That is where I came across Amanda White's The Truth In Tinsel - plus her printable tree and decorations.
The complete bundle eBook + printable ornaments + printable large tree $19.99 - 'by Amanda White Click here to visit ohAmanda.com.
The eBook
Amanda's eBook helps navigate through specific bible stories and elements to do with the story of Jesus . It contains 24 fun activities for little ones along with a complete supplies list, reference to a bible verse for each day and a small write up in summary to the daily topic.
You can choose to do all 24 days, choose from selective information sets listed at the back of the book or just pick and choose as you want .
I personally just couldn't commit to daily craft activities for 24 days so picked here and there things to do and talk about .
Printable Tree & Ornaments
Printable Ornaments $4.99 - by Amanda White Click here to visit ohAmanda.com.
Large Printable Tree (with 4 options) $6 - by Amanda White Click here to visit ohAmanda.com.
I loved when I saw this super activity for the kids! Whilst you do not have to have the eBook to use this activity it is a great complement.
On days where you can't fit in the craft activities if you do have the eBook, you can replace it with a simple colouring of the ornament to stick either on your tree at home or wall printable tree from Amanda. I myself plan on using this tree and ornaments this year for my kids, as Isabella is only 1.5yrs but loves to 'draw' (scribble lol ).
Each ornament has a picture in reference to the story of Jesus . It is the perfect activity for your younger children that can not do the crafts or those that just do not have the attention span to do the crafts.
The tree itself can be printed large as a 36x48" print at your local print shop . You have 4 tree options to choose from - a traditional looking pine tree or a fun cartoon version with or without number labelled spots.
So whether you choose the book or the tree and ornaments, all can work to introduce and teach your little ones the true meaning of Christmas. They can be as simple or as complicated as you want them to fit in with the ages of your kids. The 'Truth In The Tinsel' is the perfect family tradition.
More Christmas Reads
> 10 Better Ways On How To Do Christmas This Year
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