I don't know how many of you are already aware of this information, but it was news to me. On Christmas Eve, I was in the car and heard someone explaining the origin of the Christmas stocking. I found it very interesting and I plan to teach this to my children.
Ok, the story goes that St. Nicholas knew a family with a father and 3 girls. The family was poor and the girls did not have enough money for a dowry. When they would hang their stockings to dry, St. Nick would secretly put gold coins in them. After doing this a number of times, the girls had enough money for a dowry.
Even though we don't really do the whole Santa thing, I do like for my children to know the history of the real man. I think this story is such a great example of what our attitude at Christmas time should be about.
It is always a challenge to teach our children about why we celebrate Christmas with the extreme commercial side of it all. Our natural greed and sinful nature seem to creep up even when we know the truth.
This year, we had our children make Christmas lists for what they would like to buy other people. It was a good way for them to change their focus from getting to giving. It also was fun to see how observant they were to the people in their lives.
I hope no matter how big or small your Christmas budget was this year, that your household was filled with gratefulness over the tremendous blessings the Lord has given us all.
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