What are your Christmas traditions? I’ve been thinking about what my family’s will be now that we’ve added one more (I had a son about a month ago). As a Christian father, I long to pass on the faith to my son, and the story of Christmas is the story of faith. Although change is often a much-needed breath of fresh air, traditions can and should be valued, and I want to craft traditions that help me, my wife, and my son, remember well the great story of Christ’s coming to earth in the form of a man (incarnation). Is the answer found in painting a picture of a fat man in a red suit that flies across the whole earth and climbs through chimneys and gives kids what they want? Is that what most honors God? I’m not necessarily opposed to Santa Claus, but it seems to fall well short of the beauty of Christmas that God intended in the gospels.
I want our family’s traditions to make sense. I expect a host of questions from my son. “Why do we put up a Christmas tree?” “Why do we put ornaments on it?” “Why do we hang garland?” “Why do we give gifts?” “Why do we put fake candles in the windows?” I’d like to give a more helpful response than, “Because that’s how we did it when I was a child.” Traditions serve to help us remember. Exodus 12:26-27 says, “And when your children say to you, ‘What do you mean by this service?’ you shall say, ‘It is the sacrifice of the Lord’s Passover, for he passed over the houses of the people of Israel in Egypt, when he struck the Egyptians but spared our houses.'”
I am feeling the weight of wanting my family to exalt Christ at Christmas. I want my traditions to help us achieve this goal. What kinds of traditions do you and your family do year after year? Are they helping you to remember the great story of God’s redemption?
Check out this video, and be challenged.
