Last night there were spy laser traps set, even our mischievous little elves got involved...
So in the dead of night at 5:25am we were startled awake by my sweet girl YELLING at the top of her lungs, "CHRISTMAS EVE GIFT!" in the hall outside all our rooms. It was hard to be frustrated when I heard her tremendously satisfied and nervously excited giggles.The sparkle in their eyes, the energy, the wonder... There is nothing in the world like a 7 year old's Christmas Eve anticipation.
Childlike faith in things unseen. Imagination. Hopefulness and excitement about what is to come. Yes, these are responses to secular celebrations of the season--but they teach me so much and lend lots of opportunities for parallels to the wonder of the REAL Christmas story. They help my heart remember how it was designed to feel.
I am not a Santa or elf apologist. We are grace-loving folks who don't get into the elf surveillance or 'earning your gifts' observations. We redirect to what really matters when things seem to be getting out of kilter. But it is OK to have fun!
As with most everything in life, balance and perspective are key. And my 7 year olds think Jesus is even more awesome for letting us all have so much fun celebrating His birthday.
Merry Christmas!
4 comments:
Not trying to open a can of worms here by the way...different strokes for different folks...just recording some fun from our Christmas celebrations. :-)
Merry Christmas to you and yours.
We do Christmas Eve Gift too. When I was a girl, the first one to say it got a gift. Now, many years later, everyone gets a Christmas Eve gift. Nothing big, this year my 4 kids got cans of silly string, my husband and I also and we had a silly string war outside. Such fun!
LOVE IT! i want to copy one day :) tell everyone Merry Christmas from me please!
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