Discovering The Christmas Story

 We started what may be a new tradition tonight. With it being winter, and with a little baby, it's harder to get outside on Sunday evenings like we used to. Add to it the fact that all of us have been sick (some still are) in the past few days, we were pretty low on energy and it was still an hour before bedtime for Hadassah. So, we decided that Sundays may be family movie night!

Of course, we want to be careful what movies Hadassah sees, and our selection is mostly what's on youtube. Flying over on the plane from America, we tried a kids movie to help pass the time, but a somewhat intense (not scary to an adult) part made Hadassah scream and we realized how things can seem so real to a toddler. So what fits the criteria of no scary parts and a good story?

Well, the best story of all is always a good place to turn! We ran into The Beginner's Bible 26-minute animated version of the nativity story, and it was really good! It kept Hadassah's attention, especially as we have been going over and over the story in various books recently, plus she has loved having me act out the story with our nativity set. With each of the characters (angel, shepherds, wise men), she kept pointing to our set and saying "Just like the story!" It's so much fun to watch her discover the joy of the Christmas story.

When we were done, she went over to the nativity set, and started acting some things out. Her favorite is the angel that flies in the sky to say "Glory to God in the highest!" - I often hear her while in another room acting that part out. :) She moved all the pieces down to the shelf and said, "Mama, the story is ready!" indicating she wanted me to act it out again. So I did. Then she found an Arch book with the Christmas story, so we read that too. I told her, "This is the best story, because it really happened! It's a REAL story!" She kept repeating that - "a REAL story!"

I realized recently, that to her, Bible stories are probably the same as any other story we read about puppies or trains or children at play. So it's time to start communicating more to her that these are special stories, because they really happened. What a privilege and joy it is to be able to communicate The Story to young ones.

God, give me the words and the clarity to show her the truth in Your Story...