Teach Children the True Meaning of Christmas

We have forgotten the true meaning of Christmas.  The true meaning of Christmas will continue to be in oblivion if we don’t remind ourselves of the true meaning of the season and teach our children the essence of Christmas.

The true meaning of Christmas, the birth of our Savior Jesus Christ, is often buried in the commercialism of today’s Christmas celebration.  We get caught up in the excitement of the holiday and unwrapping our gifts.  Kids couldn’t quit thinking if their “wish lists” would come true.  To prevent the true meaning of Christmas to be totally forgotten, we need to teach children the true meaning of Christmas, the spiritual side of Christmas.  

Some very intuitive single moms, came up with the following ways to teach children the true meaning of Christmas:

Use the Jesse Tree to help children learn about the salvation history.  Show the genealogy of Jesus through symbols and use this to decorate your Jesse tree.  This is a fun way of teaching and a great time for bonding with your kids.  For instance, ask your kids to draw an apple to represent Adam and Eve then hang this on the lowest branch of your Jesse Tree.  Next ask them to cut-out a rainbow from their old story book to decorate another branch of your Jesse Tree, all the way to the baby Jesus being born.  For every ornament they draw, cut-out or make, tell them the story and the importance of the symbols.

Instead of the usual bed-time story books that you read to your kids, get a Bible story book for your children.  They would love to hear the adventures of Noah, Moses, David, Samson and more.  Get them excited by reading portions of the adventures every night.  Make the birth of Jesus Christ your finale emphasizing its importance, saying that Jesus came to gift us with eternal life and nothing can ever compare to this gift.  Receiving Christmas physical gifts on Christmas day is a bonus but the gift of eternal life, the sacrifice of Jesus is the utmost gift anyone can receive.

Let your creative juices flow and build a manger with your children.  Make it more meaningful by allowing your kids to “add comfort” to baby Jesus by allowing them to add straws on the manger every time they do a good deed.  Get a cardboard box large enough to fit a baby Jesus doll.  Put some straws on it and then let the fun begin as your kids try to be good to enable them to add more straws on the manager.  On Christmas Eve put all the ornaments – baby Jesus on the manager, Mary, Joseph, the shepherds and sheep, and the three kings.

Lull your kids to sleep with old-time Christmas songs like Silent Night, Hark the Herald Angels Sing, O Holy Night, etc. On your bonding time, watch Christmas movies such as The Polar Express, The Grinch Who Stole Christmas (animated version), etc.

Make the Christmas holiday truly fun, enjoyable, entertaining and full of the true meaning of the season.

Can You Do Two Things at the Same Time?

Can you do two things at the same time?  In our world and age, people would say “yes” because this is how they understand multitasking and most of us believe that we need to multitask to survive in our fast-pace world.  Moms, especially single moms, are known to be experts in this field.  But seriously, if you consider the pros and cons of what the experts say, is it possible to do two things at the same time?

According to Kendra Cherry, author of “The Cognitive Costs of Multitasking” published at about.com, multitasking can reduce productivity by approximately 40 percent and switching from one task to another makes it difficult to tune out distractions and can cause mental blocks that can slow down one’s progress.  It seems that Philip Stranhope, more popularly known as Lord Chesterfield, a British Statesman and a man of letters, agreed with Kendra. In one of his many letters to his son in the 1740s, he gave this advice, “There is time enough for everything in the course of the day, if you do but one thing at once, but there is not time enough in the year, if you will do two things at a time.”

On the other side, the demands of today’s workplace require an employee to work on different tasks at one time or simultaneously.  Today’s employee will be responding to urgent emails while sending text messages to remind his co-workers of a task they need to finish or attending a virtual meeting.  It is expected from the employee to juggle several different tasks at the same time without losing sight of his ultimate objective.  A number of business leaders believe that to survive in the rat race, they must be able to master the art of multitasking.

I am inclined to agree with both sides of the argument because multitasking is possible depending on the task at hand. 

If you are a writer, you can think of what to write while folding your laundry.  Folding laundry can be combined with thinking because you don’t have to fold your laundry in a scientific way.  You don't have to work your mind in this task, so you might as well use the time to think intelligibly instead of flooding your mind with bad thoughts and heartaches.

You can relax by reading a book or watching TV while you set your automatic washing machine to do your laundry.  As most of the people in the business world say, it is mixing business with pleasure.

In our internet world it is common to see a family glued to the TV with laptops and cell phones in hand updating their status on facebook and twitter, catching up with families and friends.

Jogging while enjoying your favorite music.

Walking your dog while listening your audio book. You exercise, finish a task, learn or relax with this multi-activity.

Having coffee while catching up with friends on facebook.

Feel free to add to this list J