My Molly Mormon Christmas

I love Christmas. I love that there is a special season dedicated to remembering the Savior, His love for us, and the good that He did. On that same vane, I hate Christmas. I hate that it is soooo commercialized, that there are piles and piles of toys that get played with once and then cast aside, I hate the overindulgence, and, don't kill me, I hate Santa Claus. Christmas has absolutely nothing to do with Santa. It is not Santa-mas, it is Christ-mas. If you thought of it in Spanish it would mean "more Christ." That I like. I have spent two years now telling Sterling that Christmas is Jesus' birthday whenever he sees or talks about Santa. It drives me crazy that you can find insane amounts of Santa's but the nativity sets are few and far between. Elves and snowmen and reindeer are everywhere, but where is baby Jesus?

Now that I've ranted (sorry), here is what I tried this year to make our Christmas more Christ themed. First, I didn't talk about Santa. At all. At preschool they learned all about Santa and toys and blah, blah, blah, and on the way home we would talk about Jesus' birthday. Then, in a change of pace, we opened our gifts on Christmas Eve so that Christmas morning could be focused on Jesus' Birthday. We had my in-laws over for breakfast, and I think I'm going to change that next year and have the morning be dedicated to what we are going to give Jesus for a birthday gift. I had intended to sit down with our family and talk about Jesus and the kinds of things He did and then talk about the wise men and the special gifts they gave, but the day got away from us and we kind of did a rushed version while trying to get out of the house to visit. But, we did succesfully come up with something we are going to work on as a family this year to show Jesus that we love Him.

I have to admit, I even felt like Molly Mormon while concocting this whole scheme. But, my heart was filled with joy when I was talking about Jesus' Birthday with Sterling on Christmas Eve and he wanted to make a crown for baby Jesus. Then we made a birthday cake to have for dessert after Christmas dinner. So, I hope all my craziness helped my Sterling think about the Savior and His love on His special day.

Merry Christmas!