Christmas is nearly upon us. As Chritians we know the reason we celebrate. We know that the true and best gift of Christmas is Jesus. And now it is our job to not only remember that truth but to pass it on to our children. 

I believe that your children know the truth about Jesus birth. They hear it at Shepherd's Care from their teachers at lot at this time of year. They are busy putting the last minute touches on their Christmas program. They sing about it and they hear stories read about it. We wouldn't be doing our job if we didn't tell the children about the real meaning of Christmas. Now it is your turn. When your children hear the story from adults in different corners of their life, they are more likely to internalize it as the truth. If their teachers, the parents, their grandparents, their pastor all tell them that Christmas is about Jesus, it gives more weight to the truth.

Here are a few ideas to get you started on this job of reinforcing.

• When you are decorating the Christmas tree and find an ornament depicting the nativity scene, ask your child about it and have him point out Baby Jesus in the manger.
• Look at Christmas cards with pictures of the nativity.
• Pray for those family and friends who send you cards that they may know that Christmas is Jesus birthday.
• Get your child a nativity of her own that she can play with (or let her play with yours.) Again, talk to her about the characters and the story.
• Play some children's Christmas songs and have a sing along with your child.
• Read Christmas story books at bedtime stories. There are plenty of good story books out there.
• As your child snoops through the gifts under your tree, talk about why we give gifts and about who is the best gift of all.
• Ask them if they would like to tell grandma and grandpa about the real reason for Christmas.
• And, of course, read the Christmas story from Luke before you sit down to open gifts.

I like this picture of Santa kneeling at the manger. Santa (who is so often the face of Christmas to the world) recognizes Jesus as his Savior. Talk about reinforcement.

As parents and teachers we have an importat job to do. If we don't teach the children the truth about Jesus, who will?