Meant To Teach

My eight year old has discovered the truth about Santa. "He's not REAL!" is what she keeps arguing with my six year old. This morning, Ashlyn, my youngest and I were up all alone in the house and she came to sit on my lap and just flat out asked me, "Is he real, Mommy?" We didn't want to force this question from her, because we've wanted to let her have her childhood and pretend. Well, when she came up and asked it - I had no choice to tell her the truth. And this is what I told her... "His name was Nicholas, and we call him St. Nicholas, because saint means someone who belongs to God, just like we do. In St. Nicholas' town there were many poor children. They didn't have enough food, clothes, or toys. St. Nicholas used his money to buy food, clothes, and toys for the poor children. He didn't want them to be embarrassed by his gifts, so he gave secretly." "St. Nicholas also told everyone about Jesus and how much God loved...

As an adult, I've gathered so much myself from teaching my own kids about Thanksgiving. I think that growing up, we have just taken it for granted. But it really is amazing to me, learning about the pilgrims and realizing that they came to this country so they could have the freedom to worship God. WOW! How we take that for granted! Yet, today - its disappointing that not enough people want to worship God. Our country truly was founded on Christianity. Somewhere along the way and through the years - it seems we have lost that. Now, we can't even say Christmas in a store! The first Thanksgiving, after half of the pilgrims had died from sickness, the other half had the chance to go back to England and they chose not to. They, instead, chose to stay here and thank God for their blessings! What a great group of amazing people. If only we had more "William Bradfords" today! Over the last month, we've learned about pioneers from Spain, England, Holland, and France. I...