Live alongside me with awe and delight. I'll follow you to the True Christmas Light.

Growing Up with the True Christmas Light

Posted on by Michele Morin

Read me the stories
Of Jesus and Santa,
Of stockings and shepherds and toys.
Tell me the wonders
Of snowflakes and wisemen,
Of cookies and mystery and joy.

Read “Night Before Christmas,”
Recite from Luke 2 and
The wild words from prophets of old.
Sing a Blue Christmas
Then open your throat wide
And shout with the angel, “Behold!”

Live alongside me with awe and delight.
I’ll follow you to the True Christmas Light.

 

Grateful for that Light,

Michele Morin

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Published by Michele Morin

Michele Morin is a Bible teacher, writer, reader, and gardener committed to the truth that women can become confident Christ-followers and students of God's Word. She has been married to an unreasonably patient husband for thirty-plus years, and together they have four sons, four daughters-in-love, and six adorable grandchildren. Michele loves hot tea and well-crafted sentences, poems that stop her in her tracks, and days at the ocean with the whole family. She laments biblical illiteracy and advocates for the prudent use of “little minutes.” She blogs at Living Our Days, and you can connect with her on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter.

54 thoughts on “Growing Up with the True Christmas Light”

  5. The way you enthusiastically wove together Jesus and Santa in your poem reminds me of a wonderful book we owned when our children were young: Santa Are You for Real? I loved the way it segued from the stories about the actual St. Nicholas (and his love for Jesus), to the birth of the Christ Child. In my view, Santa does not need to be omitted from a Christian Christmas, any more than we need to omit other fiction stories from our bookshelves. But I do wonder if it’s wise to raise young children to believe that Santa delivers all the presents on Christmas Eve.

    Liked by 1 person

    1. I agree with you on this, Nancy. And when we start “stretching the truth” about gift delivery, we run the risk of coloring all our stories — even the crucially true ones! — with the question of our truthfulness.

      Liked by 2 people

    3. We still read stories about Santa and my kids know who he is, but they don’t believe he is “real” (i.e., they know he is a fictitious character) and they don’t get gifts from him. This allows them to enjoy Santa decorations and stories, but he is just like the princesses or superheroes in other children’s stories to them–fun to read about and pretend about, but just a character. To us, this was the best solution. It keeps the focus on Christ, but still allows them the fun of the stories.

      Liked by 1 person

    1. Yes, our kids are embedded in this culture and, whether we like it or not, they are exposed to all the facets of every holiday. We kids ourselves if we think we can just ignore the parts we don’t care for as much. I believe we can trust God to make all of it meaningful and pointing to Jesus.

      Liked by 1 person

  10. What a beautiful photo of you with your precious grands! Thank you for sharing this poem with us, Michele. Yes, let’s give our children and grandchildren Santa and Jesus, reindeer and O Come, O Come Emmanuel. Let’s teach them the true reason for the season.

    Like

  13. Our church used to call children up from the pews to act out the story at a special children’s mass they held each Christmas and I have such fond memories of that… even if I didn’t usually want to get up in front of all those people.

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  19. Sweet picture and poem! These precious shared moments will be forever etched on their hearts and minds. A grandparent’s love is such a treasure for all of life! Thanks so much for sharing this post again!

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  23. What a lovely poem Michelle. We try hard to do this with our two daughters over the festive period – teach them about the true meaning of Christmas as well as all of the excitement surrounding Santa. I get an advent calendar each year and we open the door every day together and talk about the symbols and what they represent. And they actually love learning about it. The story of the nativity is such a lovely one and it is great to be able to share it with children – thank you for sharing this on #globallbogging and I hope you and your family have a happy and peaceful Christmas!

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