Keeping Christ in Christmas, but Not Leaving Him in the Manger

By Kristen @ Smithspirations, Contributing Writer

Around this time of the year, a rallying cry from Christians often has to do with contending for the real meaning of Christmas. We hear and say slogans like “Jesus is the reason for the season” and “Keep Christ in CHRISTmas”, and all with good reason. I admit that I enjoy making homemade gifts, supporting home and small businesses with my purchases, and yes, even scoring a good deal from a big retailer, but all of the buying can take away from a more worshipful mindset if I’m not careful.

With children of my own, I’m much more conscious of this. My husband and I desperately want them to not just think of Christmas as a time to get presents. Of course there’s no escaping that aspect of it in the mind of a child, but we want them to know about the greater meaning. We choose to keep our gift giving modest with three gifts each. We tell them that we give them gifts because we love them, just as God gave the gift of His Son because He loves us.

Last year while opening gifts, we took breaks during the openings to read portions of the Christmas story in the Bible and sing some favorite Christmas hymns. My husband would talk a little bit about the story, perhaps ask some questions, and then we would continue on with a few more gifts. But when all of the opening was finished, we didn’t want to just leave the Christmas story there with the stable, the shepherds, and baby Jesus in the manger.

Jesus in a manger as a newborn baby is a wonderful, miraculous event. All babies are such tiny miracles, but this baby was even more so with all of the supernatural surrounding His birth. Imagine the God of the universe making Himself so humble that He came, as a helpless infant, to lay in a stable with common animals and very common people! It’s really beyond the imagination of man, and deserves all the emphasis we can give it.

However, we also want to use Christmas as an opportunity to take our children on in the story. We wanted to call their minds to remember what they’ve been taught about Jesus.

• Did He stay a baby in a manger?
• What did He do when He grew up?
• How did He save us?
• Is He still dead? 
• What can He do for us now?

Yes, we want to keep Christ in Christmas, but we don’t want to leave Him in the manger in the minds of our children. We want them to see that the baby Jesus didn’t stay a baby. He grew, He healed, He taught, and He ultimately saved. We want to use Christmas as an opportunity to draw their hearts to Calvary and on to the day of Pentecost, when the same Holy Spirit that was in Christ came to dwell in the hearts of His followers. And most importantly, we want our children to know that Jesus wants to save them and fill their hearts, just as He did for those first followers.

Charles Wesley, in the famous Christmas Hymn Hark the Herald Angels Sing, put it quite well:

Hail the heav’nly Prince of Peace!
Hail the Son of Righteousness!
Light and life to all He brings,
Ris’n with healing in His wings.
Mild He lays His glory by,
Born that man no more may die.
Born to raise the sons of earth,
Born to give them second birth.

As parents, my husband and I want nothing more than to see our children drawn to the Lord and committed to serving Him. Yes, they need to know the miracle of the Christmas story and of Jesus as an infant in the manger. But more than that, Christmas is a wonderful opportunity to remind them of what Jesus did, not as a baby in a manger, but as the Savior of the world.

How do you emphasize the Christmas story in your family’s traditions? Do you ever talk to your children about Christ’s ministry, sacrifice, or salvation during Christmas?