Today AG and I have been working on our first batch of decorated cut-out cookies. We mixed up the dough this morning and rolled, cut, baked, and decorated them this afternoon.

These are the moments I cherish as a mom. Snippets of time to enjoy working on something together and talking. We had some sweet conversations during our cookie project.

When the cookies were baking, we were discussing that I know when the cookies are done because they start to get brown around the edges. I explained to AG that the brown edges are a sign to me. Then we reviewed her memory verses (right now Luke 2:10-20), discussing what the angels had said would be a sign for the shepherds that they had found baby Jesus. As I explained in the post with tips for teaching kids Scripture, we rarely have a formal “Bible time.” For AG’s age and temperment, I have found it to be much more effective to do what Deuteronomy 6 tells us to do – talk about it when we get up, walk along the road, lie down, and bake cookies! ;)

We were listening to this cd of kid-friendly Christmas carols as we decorated.  “All is well” came on, and I commented to AG that it is my favorite Christmas song.

AG – “why?”
KS – “Because this song reminds me that one day Jesus will come back and make all the bad things come untrue.”
AG – “Do you think His arms will get too full?”
KS – “Too full of what?”
AG - “Us.”
KS - “No, sweetheart, Jesus’ arms are big enough for all of us.”

Seriously, melt my heart.

Lest you think that our time was all spiritually enriching, I asked AG what her favorite part of baking cookies was.

KS – “What did you like the best?  Mixing the dough, rolling and cutting the cookies, decorating them?”
AG – “I like it when one breaks and we get to eat it.  Could you break that one?”

hee hee…

Have a great time preparing for Christmas with your kidlets.  What precious moments we have to build truth into their little lives.

This weekend I had one of those shining moments in parenting that fill me with joy and reassurance that all those tiny moments of imparting Truth to my kids are indeed adding up to something.

AG had picked out a Blue’s Clues DVD at the library entitled “Blue’s first holiday.” Among the stories of waking up on a “holiday morning,” there was a segment with four children telling about their own holiday traditions. The first discussed lighting the candles and playing games for Hanukkah, the second shared about fasting at Ramadan, the third talked about lighting candles at Kwanzaa, and the last child discussed making cookies and decorating a tree for Christmas.

We were driving in the car that evening and I brought up the subject of the different holidays in her movie and what the holidays were for. I said, “AG, did you know that most people think that it doesn’t matter what god you follow? Many people say you can worship any god you want and celebrate any holiday you want. Is that true?”

AG looked at me very seriously and said, “No.” I asked her how she knew that wasn’t true, and she said slowly and carefully, “because of the 10 commandments.” I asked her which commandment she was referring to and she said, “the first commandment – there is only one True God.” [You can read about teaching the 10 commandments here.] Oh, the joy in this mother’s heart!!

This simple, yet profound, conversation has been on my mind frequently this weekend. It is amazing to me that this Truth that seems so impossible for many to grasp is plain and clear to my 3 year old. It also has caused me to think even more about what or whom we are worshiping this time of year.

Every year around this time, “happy holidays” becomes the most acceptable greeting to use. Every year a bunch of Christians get all upset about it.

Want to know a little secret? I don’t really care if my Home Depot checker says “happy holidays” to me.

The fact of the matter is that there are several holidays that different people celebrate this time of year. My Home Depot checker does not know by looking at me what holiday I prefer to celebrate. And guess what? Even if I say “Merry Christmas” in return, I hardly think I have earned another “jewel in my crown” for bravely sharing the Gospel.

Now, don’t get me wrong. I am most certainly not downplaying the importance of Christ’s incarnation, the miracle of the virgin birth, the fulfillment of thousands of years of anticipation and prophecy, the reality of God with us. The birth of Christ is tremendously important and carries eternal implications that we surely cannot fully comprehend.

I also think that Satan has tried his best for hundreds and thousands of years to distract us from the reality and implications of the birth of Christ as well as the death and resurrection of Christ. Satan DOES want to take Christ out of Christmas, and he has deceived us into following a lot of false gods in His place, many of whom are very evident this time of year – even in a Blue’s clues dvd.

Billions of people follow false religions.
Millions of people have refused to acknowledge Jesus Christ as the Messiah.
Millions of people have clung to tradition and rejected Truth.

Millions of people are consumed with religion, tradition, materialism, and themselves – and unfortunately this is also true among those who celebrate Christmas. Christmas as a traditional holiday and Christmas as a season of worship of the one True God are two very different things.

My Home Depot checker doesn’t know me, and I don’t expect her to know that I am a follower of Jesus Christ, the Son of God born of a virgin in order to live a sinless life and take the punishment for sin in my place on the cross. Her generic holiday greeting does not offend me, and I see no reason for it to cause offense. However, the bigger question to me is whether my worship of Jesus Christ is clearly evident to those around me who do know me, especially my own children.

If our kids were interviewed about Christmas traditions, what would they say? Would they talk about baking cookies and decorating a tree? Would they beam as they discussed opening presents and having their pictures taken with Santa? What do they see us worshiping?

Are we clearly communicating through our words and our celebrations the wonder of Emmanuel – God with us? Or are we devoting ourselves to false gods of tradition, religion, or materialism just like the billions around us?

I am the LORD; that is my name!
I will not give my glory to another
or my praise to idols.
Isaiah 42:8

Image from freefoto.com

It has been a rough week or so at our house. Talking to my sister and other friends with kids, apparently there is some sort of highly contagious virus going around that causes erratic misbehavior in our children! LB seems to be working on some teeth, but I have no idea what AG’s excuse could be! ;)

My husband has been putting in some long hours with work for a variety of non-bloggable reasons, and I’m feeling drained. Packing up the children and sending them to Grandma’s house has been a tempting idea!!

Last night and today, in the midst of insanity and ill-temper from all three of us, I had some precious snippets of conversation with AG. These are the little moments that remind me that the sacrifice of finances (and occasionally sanity) to stay home are so, SO worth it.

Last night as I sang to her, the John 3:16 song from Hide ‘em in Your Heart has been a favorite recently, we again discussed perish. [Remember last year's "perish" discussion??] Then she asked, “Why does it say, ‘whoever believes in Him?’” So, we went through the basics of salvation again. She smiled and said, “those were the two things I couldn’t remember – perish, and ‘whoever believes.’”

Today we were coloring a picture of Adam (don’t you love his blue hair??) and Eve eating the forbidden fruit in our God Created the Dinosaurs book, which will be reviewed in the very near future. It had been an unpleasant morning, and I was simply trying to occupy her long enough to limp us along to naptime! But in that little window of time, she asked why it was wrong for them to eat the fruit; aren’t apples green light foods?! We talked about how they chose to disobey God, and as she picked out her next crayon she seriously said, “but He still loved them, even though they disobeyed.” Ah, the fruit of many instances of discipline and consequences, while discussing God’s unconditional love.

We then discussed how sin affected the earth – she thought that the picture we were coloring was “a little scary” because Adam and Eve were eating the fruit (scary, indeed!), the serpent was in it, and there was a dinosaur. From there we got onto the discussion that dinosaurs weren’t scary when God made them – they ate plants, and wouldn’t hurt people or other animals. Sin changed everything. When I said, “when sin came into the world,” she paused and said, “did it poke a hole in it or something? How did it get in?” Stinking adorable, and great ground for some theological discussion, too!

In the midst of the craziness, we have little golden moments. Moments while we sing a lullaby, moments when we’re disciplining, moments when we’re coloring… moments to teach our children the miraculous truth of a holy God who loves them and has moved heaven and earth to buy us back from our slavery to sin.

So, to my fellow drained mommy’s, this song is for you – I needed to listen to this after a very long day! In the midst of time outs and temper tantrums and 17 month olds who insist on hitting their sisters and obstinately disobeying :), we have a big job to do with immeasurable worth. No one else knows what you put up with today, how you struggled to keep your temper in check, how you wanted to go back to bed and let the kids tear the house apart, how you cried in the kitchen by yourself in frustration, how you kissed a boo-boo, how you taught your child about math or science or a new word, how you triumphed over that long-awaited potty training victory… but God knows.

Who cares that it’s not really mother’s day? :) This is a tough job 365 days a year, but it’s worth it. Keep up the good work.

Image via Wikipedia

I haven’t posted a kid quote for a while! Tonight’s was a goodie! Nate was getting AG ready for bed and they were discussing what Bible story they were going to read. [we've been discussing Jericho frequently this week thanks to Veggietales. She has declared that the bad soldiers (in the other Bible story movie about Jericho we had watched) scare her, but that the silly peas aren't as scary.]

“Did you know that there were these guys called Israelites?
Sometimes I pretend that I’m an Israelite. I haven’t pretended to be an Israelite for a long time, though.”

That’s my strange little 3 year old!! She makes us laugh, that’s for sure!!

[pssst.... speaking of Israel, did you enter the giveaway for the fabulous all-natural Dead Sea facial products from Great Cakes Soapworks yet?? It ends tomorrow - don't forget!!]