Five Things Christmas Can Teach Your Children. Parents Guide to Christmas | TruPlay Games

‍What Every Parent Should Know to Plan a Meaningful Christmas for Their Kids

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Have Mixed Feelings About Christmas?

Parents often have mixed feelings about Christmas. The weight of expectations and obligations sits heavy on the shoulders of most parents. And Christian parents have an added burden when it comes to celebrating the birth of Christ: passing on a spiritual tradition that bears the mark of the eternal. But what a privilege and a gift! Christmas offers the opportunity to model incredibly important values and beliefs. The trick is to understand what this often over-commercialized holiday has to offer families of faith and to lean into the season with real joy. Here are five ways to do that:

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Teaching God-Given Celebration

The Jewish calendar is filled with feasts and celebrations sprinkled throughout the year. Sometimes, in the face of a fallen world, we lose sight of how much God loves to throw a party. In fact, our first experience of heaven will be a wedding feast! The praise and worship time during Sunday services reminds us to celebrate God with our adoration.

The language of celebration is embedded throughout the Bible and religious tradition. When priests administer communion, they are called celebrants, a title built on the understanding that our most holy sacraments are celebrations of Jesus’ resurrection. Christmas is worth celebrating. If you don’t believe me, ask the Heavenly Host who serenaded Jesus, the wise men who traveled with precious gifts, and the shepherds following the star to a humble stable in Bethlehem. God announced the birth of his Son with song and gifts, with a brilliant star decorating the night sky, and even important guests as we see in Luke 2:10: And the angel said to them, “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people.”

And during the year, when we celebrate birthdays, it is an acknowledgment of the joy that the birth of our children bring. We rejoice that they are born because our Father in Heaven modeled this kind of celebration for us. The Christian life is one that is filled with joy. It is the joy of the Lord that gives us strength and modeling celebration is an important part of living out that joy.

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Jesus Was Once a Child, Too

While we often gloss over childhood as a carefree part of life, it has its hardships. As we watch our children grow and face all of the dilemmas that life brings, reminding them that Jesus can identify with all of their challenges can be encouraging. The Christmas story is so inspiring with elements that children and adults from all walks can relate to one or more of its more compelling aspects. Jesus was born in poverty. His parents fled to Egypt and were political refugees due to Herod’s threats. Even as a child, Jesus faced crisis and trauma.

But he also had younger siblings, learned a trade, studied in school, and eventually, lost Joseph, his earthly father. The Christmas story tells us that Jesus was fully human and experienced the ups and downs of childhood. This Jesus speaks to all of us, but I remember when one of my daughters was experiencing loneliness. We prayed together and at the end, her face lit up and she said, “Jesus says he will be my friend!” What a friend even our small children have in Jesus.

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Giving Makes Us Happy

Giving is a primary tenet of the Christian life. And we give to God and others, not to bless ourselves, generally. But that is a natural consequence of generosity. I believe that giving must be taught. While some temperaments have an easier time parting with money, time, and gifts, selfishness is a condition of the human race. But Christmas gives us an opportunity to counter that natural tendency.

While many decry the consumerism of Christmas, and rightly so, gift giving is an important part of reinforcing relationships and establishing community. Giving can be an act of love. After all, Christmas represents the incredible gift of Jesus to us from our Father in heaven so that if we believe in him, we won’t perish but have eternal life. (John 3:16) That sounds like several gifts in one. He gave us Jesus so that he could give us Heaven, enabling us to live forever in the gift of his presence.

When we teach our children to take pleasure in giving to others, we teach them to be blessed and to be a blessing. We teach them sacrifice, one of the most important skills in loving our neighbors. So take advantage of the Christmas season. Shoebox ministries and angel trees abound. Enlist your children in giving every year, both to the family and to the world outside. While opportunities to give always exist, Christmas sets it up so nicely for us as parents. Model generosity and eventually you will see your grandchildren and great-grandchildren–as well as your community–benefit from a joyful giver.

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Learning How to Receive

The importance of learning how to receive cannot be overemphasized. Some might argue that receiving is the easy part and too much receiving can spoil a child. But that’s not really true. If we ask ourselves how well we receive, the answer is not straightforward. Can we receive a compliment? Does it land in us? Do we feel loved when the people in our lives attempt to love us?

Remember, Christianity is based on the premise that we must accept the gift of Jesus’ atonement. If it were easy, more people would do it. Learning to accept the love, affection, and gifts of others is crucial for an emotionally and spiritually healthy life. If we cannot receive love in whatever form it comes from others and from God, we deny the relationship. Christmas gives families another chance to get giving and receiving right. If we don’t get what we want, are we able to be grateful for the love behind the gift?

I realize that gifts, both the giving and receiving, can be complicated in families. It can be twisted by manipulation and control. But for a child, teaching them that they are worth loving, worth giving of ourselves, opens the door to them receiving love from the Father of lights. Just as Joseph presumably taught Jesus how to be loved by a father, so do parents teach their children how to be loved by everyone else in their lives, including God.

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Christmas Illustrates the Sacred

At no time except for Easter is the contrast between the sacred and the profane so clearly delineated. Human nature, being what it is, often makes a mockery of the things of God. I’m not arguing against Christmas trees or even Santa Claus. But I think of that holy night when Jesus was born as a small baby in an unfriendly world and I understand how sacred his little life was and how significant it would be.

Every Christmas is a crossroads between the sacred and the cheap imitation. I can get distracted by trying to create a beautiful memory, but if it pulls me away from focusing on the immensity and the wonder of God born as man on earth to save us, it is cheap. We all have our own way of entering into holy spaces. For me, listening to Handel's Messiah moves me deeply. Every word of that masterpiece is scripture.

The story of Christmas compels us to rethink our ideas about a distant God. Model a life of reverence for your children by stepping out of the crushing obligations of creating a perfect Christmas. Instead, read the stories, watch the movies, and listen to the Christmas music that tells us that “unto us a Son is given.” A Christmas without worship is a secular one. I don’t remember many of the presents I received as a child. I remember the songs, the late night church services with a hundred candles lit in honor of Jesus’ birth, and the pageants that made the first Christmas come alive for me.

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Christmas invites us to move in a different level of grace than the rest of the year. The lights and celebratory mood can act as an invitation to a spiritual rebirth each year. Embrace the best parts of Christmas and invite Jesus to be the center of your holiday. I promise that your children are watching. I promise that you are planting seeds of the gospel that will bear fruit in the lives of your generations after you. Fulfill the promise of Luke 1:14 that tells us “and you will have joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth.” This verse is as true today as it was then. Join the party and rejoice at the birth of our Savior and King, Jesus.

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Use TruPlay Games to Enhance Your Christmas

Parents who want their children to experience the full meaning of Christmas can turn to the TruPlay Games app. Among the many unique features of the TruPlay app is a series of short videos that depict Rhymverse characters such as Maple the tiger bunny and Oliver the biblical fox talking about “How to Christmas,” “The Best Gift Ever,” and more, including an Action Bible digital comic book telling the story of Jesus’ birth.

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TruPlay's website (TruPlayGames.com) clearly details the app's offerings, and free downloads and trials are available in both the Apple App Store and GooglePlay. Explore the following links to unlock a richer Christmas experience for your kids:

● https://www.truplaygames.com/games-more

● https://www.truplaygames.com/user-registration

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