Christmas Resources

Here's a quick list of some of our favorite Christmas resources for families:

• Jotham's Journey, Bartholomew's Passage and Tabitha's Travels all by Arnold Ytreeide - historical fiction advent readings that really help you understand what longing for the Messiah was like from a child's perspective. (While we love the stories, we have sometimes found that the devotional portions don't line up with our theology, so we read the devotionals sparingly.)
• Veggie Tales: Saint Nicholas: A Story of Joyful Giving - We watch this on St. Nicholas day and read Saint Nicholas: The True Story of the Christmas Legend. We don't celebrate Santa Claus, but there's no need to throw the baby out with the bath water. The real St. Nick was a Christ-follower who set a worthy example.
• The Very First Noel - A cute, animated video, most appropriate for toddler, preschool and maybe young elementary aged children.
• Adornaments - Cardboard, storybook ornaments representing Jesus as Light of the World, the Good Shepherd, the Door, etc. Devotional book included.
• Little People Nativity - Any nativity set that your kids can touch, arrange and love is perfect.
• Nativities in general - There is much to learn and discuss with your children as you view different artists' representation of Jesus' birth. One thing we did when our kids were young was to hide all the baby Jesus figures on Christmas morning and have the little ones search for them. Another year, we looked at Nativities in which baby Jesus is depicted in a cross shape. We talked about God's plan for Jesus to die on the cross, which was already determined when Jesus was only a baby in the manger.
• Ordinary Baby: Extraordinary Gift - This is an absolutely beautiful story. (There are one or two sentences that I edit as I read it, again because of the theology presented.)