Away in a manger, no crib for a bed,
The little Lord Jesus laid down his sweet head.
The stars in the bright sky looked down where he lay,
The little Lord Jesus asleep on the hay.
The cattle are lowing, the baby awakes,
But little Lord Jesus, no crying he makes.
I love thee, Lord Jesus! look down from the sky,
And stay by my cradle till morning is nigh.
Be near me, Lord Jesus; I ask thee to stay
Close by me forever, and love me I pray.
Bless all the dear children in thy tender care,
And fit us for heaven to live with thee there.
For today’s devotions I want to talk about sharing the Christmas story with your children. It’s still early in December so this should give you some time to get organized.
I think books are an amazing way to share stories. There are some good ones out there, and they are not necessarily sold in Christian bookstores. One thing about Christmas is that the secular world includes the Biblical story in its promotion of the season. Christianbook.com is a good source of material, and it does have a Canadian office. Here’s where you can help. If you have a book that you think is really good, post the name of the book today. It might also help if you posted the child’s age that book would appeal to the most.
Use your access to RightNow Media, a Christian media source at LSA. They have a huge children’s section, and there are several Christmas films. If you haven’t connected with RightNow Media, go to the church website (lsachurch.net). Look under the heading – Resources. You will find RightNow Media and will be able to sign in.
I also think having a nativity set in your home is a good idea. I have one that is made of very durable material so our children and grandchildren could play with it without me being worried at all. There are several websites you can order them from. You want something that your children can touch and play with. My girls liked to carry baby Jesus and the angel all around the house. Sometimes we played hide and seek games with the pieces.
Susan Smith, our Kids’ Cove coordinator, said she wraps the various nativity scene characters in paper and puts them in an advent calendar that has pockets for various treats. When a child unwraps the figure, they talk about its role in the Christmas story. Susan recommends the following website for an Advent calendar that includes verses with various aspects of the Christmas story.
https://theparentcue.org/resources/advent-calendar-2021/
When your children get a little older (Kindergarten and up), have them act out the Christmas story. Our extended family gets together at some point every Christmas, and we used to send the kids downstairs to practice a play about Jesus’ birth. Our oldest daughter, Andrea, loved to ‘direct’ the play when she was about 9 or 10. She would boss her younger sister and cousins around and get the play going. She often told the story while the younger ones just did what she told them to do. It was interesting to hear her version of the story, and it was hilarious watching the young ones trying to be Mary or Joseph or shepherds, etc.
When my youngest granddaughter was 9 years old, I purchased a foam 3D nativity craft set at Michael’s. We sat and put it together one Saturday afternoon and talked about the story as we put the pieces together. It was interesting to hear how much she knew and some of the details that she didn’t know. She’s a smart little girl, and she had lots of questions and comments, and I have a feeling she added to her knowledge of Christmas that afternoon. If you have older children, perhaps you could do a craft like that or even colour with them. Again, there are Biblical Christmas colouring books and puzzles out there if you look.
If you have found things that have helped your children learn the Christmas story, please share them with us. We all want to do our best as parents and grandparents to share our faith with our younger generation.
Our song for today is Away in a Manger by Pentatonix.