Christmas as a time of waiting, the meaning of giving, the ritual that is repeated every year in the family.This holiday is so important to children.
What is the true meaning of Christmas for children ? It is certainly not an easy undertaking, because we take it for granted. And maybe in most cases we have also forgotten what it is, taken by consumerism and a tradition that seems to repeat itself year after year, without giving us the time to consider what Christmas really is for all of us .
Christmas is not just gifts, lights, school holidays. It is much more: it is sharing, the desire to be together, the desire to devote time and attention, but also to renew traditions that every family may pass down from generation to generation. It is also the desire to slow down a little to rediscover the true values of life : family is always family and we should never forget that.
THE TRUE MEANING OF CHRISTMAS FOR CHILDREN
To explain to children the true meaning of Christmas , one cannot but start from the reason why December 25th is a holiday. Religiously speaking, it is an important day, because it is the "birthday" of Jesus, born to save the world. Even if you are not a Christian, you can still tell the story of Joseph and Mary, which is always very current (the theme of hospitality is easily reconnected and very topical).
We can explain to children that at Christmas they give themselves gifts that are much more than objects: they are moments of sharing, the desire to give and give oneself, the desire to help each other and be together for the pleasure of doing it. In addition to demonstrating that someone is listening to us, it was Santa Claus or just the father dressed in a white beard. Santa Claus, moreover, can be considered as a father or a grandfather who does everything to fulfill the wishes of the little ones, from whom, however, he asks in exchange to be good and to respect the rules of the family.
How to preserve the exceptional nature of the Christmas gift?
We are aware that today's children have everything they could want: they are used to receiving gifts almost daily, to allay the guilt of overly busy parents, to silence nagging requests or, on the contrary, to provide them with educational support all the time. new. The gift has lost its quality as a "reward" due to an effort made or a result achieved; it is in fact considered, even by the parents themselves, a right of children, almost independent of their behavior.
The gift has lost its characteristics of exceptionality and reward, just as the child's ability to wait and desire seems to have been lost. Every possibility of fantasizing in the vacuum of waiting is saturated, thus eliminating that potential space from which true creativity arises. The Christmas gift can then become an opportunity to restore the function of desire as a creative engine, starting with the "letter" to Santa Claus, written well in advance and often with great commitment because written personally by the children.
A SHORT STORY ABOUT THE BIRTH OF JESUS CHRIST TO TELL YOUR CHILDREN
In those days a decree of the Roman emperor , the most powerful king in all the earth, ordered that a census be made, that is, that his subjects were counted and registered, each in his city.
Joseph , a carpenter who was of the house and family of David, also left the city of Nazareth to go to Bethlehem, to be registered with Mary, his wife, who was pregnant.
As soon as they arrived in that city, Mary realized that her Child was about to be born and Joseph began to look for an inn that could welcome them and where Mary could settle down in the warmth. Bethlehem, however, was full of people gathered for the census and also the hoteliers when Joseph knocked on the door, selling the two poor travelers with only a donkey as luggage and a means of transport, chased them badly.
When night came and Maria, by now very tired, was close to the birth of the Child, finally Joseph spotted an abandoned stable with only a big ox inside and a bit of straw on the ground where he made his wife sit, refreshed by the warmth of the ox and the donkey. In a short time Jesus was born and his mother immediately wrapped him in swaddling clothes and placed him in the manger, where there was hay for the animals, to make him sleep.
In that region there were some shepherds who watched at night guarding their flock, suddenly an angel appeared to them and they were surrounded by a great light but the angel, calming them, said: "Do not be afraid, I am here to to announce to you a great joy: today is born the one who will be the greatest of all kings.
Go celebrate it: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger . The shepherds full of joy and simple gifts therefore went without delay and found Mary and Joseph and the child, who was lying quietly in the manger.
The robin
In the stable where Joseph, Mary and little Jesus were sleeping, the fire was going out. Soon there were only a few embers and a few extinguished embers. Mary and Joseph felt cold, but they were so tired that they merely fidgeted restlessly in their sleep.
There was another guest in the stable: a brown bird; he had entered the stable when the flame was still alive; he had seen little Jesus and his parents, and he was so happy that he would not have strayed from there even for all the gold in the world.
When even the last of the embers were about to go out, he thought of the cold that the child would suffer if he had put to sleep on the straw of the manger. He took off and landed on a shard next to the last ember.
It began to flap its wings blowing air on the embers so that they resumed burning. The little brown breast of the bird turned red with the heat from the fire, but the robin did not leave his place. Hot sparks flew from his embers and burned the feathers on his chest but he kept flapping his wings until finally all the embers burned in a beautiful flame.
The robin's little heart swelled with pride and happiness as the baby Jesus smiled and felt enveloped in warmth.
The robin's chest has remained red ever since, as a sign of his devotion to the child of Bethlehem.