preparing for jesus and santa

The twins are now old enough to start understanding some of the stories of baby Jesus and Santa. Which made us start to think about what we want them to believe about this mega-holiday. So kids, see, God gave us a baby as a gift so that we would have hope. Hmmm.  What's hope and why do we need it?  If God is Jesus' father, who's Joseph?  Ok, maybe next year. And why does Santa give out gifts on Jesus' birthday?  We started telling some of the stories of the real St. Nicholas from whence came the modern Santa Claus, but even those were a little challenging. See, there were these poor girls who had no money for a dowry...  Yeah...  

In the end, all attempts at having any sort of coherent description of all the traditions we have pretty much failed. But, probably age appropriately, they don't need to piece it all together yet. They just, like a child, come with awe and wonder to the baby's birth, they have hope and joy of receiving blessings and gifts, and they know this time of waiting for Christmas and the day itself is set apart and something of a big deal. So, maybe they understand more about this mega holiday than I give them credit for. 

Christmas chapel from their Mother's Day Out:

Zoo lights: 

Christmas carols at the house: