WEBVTT 00:05.515 --> 00:15.476 [SPEAKER_03]: So one of the things that people tend to say is, they came up with Christmas on December 25th, because they were trying to co-op other pagan holidays and celebrations already existed. 00:16.017 --> 00:18.883 [SPEAKER_03]: So they were trying to replace the winter solstice. 00:22.593 --> 00:25.477 [SPEAKER_00]: Welcome to the Mama Bear Apologetics podcast on Hillary. 00:25.517 --> 00:26.318 [SPEAKER_00]: And I'm Amy. 00:26.518 --> 00:32.146 [SPEAKER_00]: We are just two gals who are spiritually armed, highly caffeinated, and just sassy enough to make bad ideas cry. 00:32.406 --> 00:40.958 [SPEAKER_02]: Mama Bear is a ministry dedicated to helping you raise children who think critically, love, biblically, and stand firm in the faith, using scripture, reason, and reality. 00:41.219 --> 00:44.343 [SPEAKER_00]: Because remember, Mama Bear's, this might not affect your faith. 00:44.363 --> 00:45.985 [SPEAKER_00]: But it might affect your children's. 00:50.318 --> 01:02.753 [SPEAKER_02]: welcome back mama and pop bears to a very special Mary Christmas blog if you can't know by our amazing shirts and our backgrounds we are so excited to be ushering in this wonderful Christmas season. 01:03.294 --> 01:05.340 [SPEAKER_02]: Can I just say it's much needed after? 01:05.320 --> 01:06.382 [SPEAKER_02]: this whole year, right? 01:06.442 --> 01:08.206 [SPEAKER_02]: It is just amazing to celebrate. 01:08.667 --> 01:10.691 [SPEAKER_02]: So we have some new faces with us. 01:10.711 --> 01:16.323 [SPEAKER_02]: So if this is your first time listening in on a Monta Bear blog or watching a Monta Bear blog, I just want to say welcome. 01:16.723 --> 01:22.676 [SPEAKER_02]: I am Amy Davis and I'm one of the podcast host in writers and with me is, hi, I'm Lindsay Reddenwald. 01:22.796 --> 01:25.742 [SPEAKER_03]: I'm Executive Director of Monta Bear Apologetics. 01:25.823 --> 01:26.966 [SPEAKER_03]: I'm Robin Lopez. 01:27.247 --> 01:31.619 [SPEAKER_03]: I'm an administrative assistant and the website administrator with Mama Bear. 01:32.863 --> 01:40.845 [SPEAKER_03]: I help out with publishing the podcast and I also record the AABs and try to keep the website smoothly flowing. 01:40.825 --> 01:43.007 [SPEAKER_02]: Oh my gosh, and ramen is so amazing. 01:43.048 --> 01:45.390 [SPEAKER_02]: We love having our apartment in the Mama Bear team. 01:45.410 --> 01:51.137 [SPEAKER_02]: And we love that you're here because you've got some great insight into some of the big questions behind Christmas. 01:51.197 --> 01:53.479 [SPEAKER_02]: And we're going to cover all sorts of amazing things. 01:53.880 --> 01:57.144 [SPEAKER_02]: And actually, we have got a guide, which Lindsay, you help put together. 01:57.164 --> 02:02.850 [SPEAKER_02]: Why don't you tell us a little bit about this Christmas guide that we are going to have available to all our Monas and Puppas out there? 02:03.218 --> 02:14.691 [SPEAKER_01]: So about a month ago, we were having a conversation in one of our meetings about all of these questions, these great questions that come in to the Mama Bear team, about everything. 02:14.832 --> 02:16.173 [SPEAKER_01]: You all ask us about everything. 02:16.474 --> 02:16.994 [SPEAKER_01]: That's your real. 02:17.355 --> 02:27.947 [SPEAKER_01]: And we can't always tackle all the things that you ask us, but we consistently around the holidays, get questions about all of the different aspects of celebrating Christmas. 02:28.528 --> 02:33.073 [SPEAKER_01]: So this year, we've decided that we wanted to create 02:33.307 --> 02:34.210 [SPEAKER_01]: to Christmas. 02:34.873 --> 02:37.161 [SPEAKER_01]: And that has been released this week. 02:37.181 --> 02:41.055 [SPEAKER_01]: And if you haven't seen it yet, we encourage you to go to our website and download that. 02:41.440 --> 02:43.882 [SPEAKER_01]: This podcast is about that guide. 02:44.223 --> 02:48.928 [SPEAKER_01]: We are going to be talking about some of the things that are in there and some of the things that we didn't have space for. 02:49.809 --> 02:53.432 [SPEAKER_01]: But if you haven't downloaded it, please go and get a copy. 02:53.492 --> 02:59.278 [SPEAKER_01]: It's a free download and we're excited about being able to offer that to you all. 03:00.219 --> 03:07.887 [SPEAKER_01]: One of the key questions that we get is how do we talk to our kids about what we're celebrating? 03:08.153 --> 03:09.274 [SPEAKER_01]: What is Christmas? 03:09.374 --> 03:10.376 [SPEAKER_01]: What are we celebrating? 03:10.676 --> 03:19.886 [SPEAKER_01]: And so what we're going to talk about, it's this very start of the podcast, is how to instill truth in your children about the Christmas holiday. 03:19.946 --> 03:21.388 [SPEAKER_01]: Who are we celebrating? 03:21.709 --> 03:22.569 [SPEAKER_01]: That's pretty simple. 03:22.610 --> 03:23.891 [SPEAKER_01]: We're celebrating Jesus. 03:24.752 --> 03:25.353 [SPEAKER_01]: But why? 03:25.373 --> 03:26.694 [SPEAKER_01]: Why are we celebrating? 03:26.714 --> 03:29.117 [SPEAKER_01]: It's not just another birthday to put on our calendar. 03:29.718 --> 03:30.739 [SPEAKER_01]: Birthdays are exciting. 03:30.839 --> 03:33.362 [SPEAKER_01]: And in our home, we do bake a cake for Jesus. 03:33.422 --> 03:34.964 [SPEAKER_01]: Because that's awesome. 03:34.984 --> 03:37.907 [SPEAKER_01]: And the opportunity to have cake in our wedding. 03:38.495 --> 03:40.818 [SPEAKER_01]: But why do we celebrate? 03:41.199 --> 03:45.144 [SPEAKER_01]: Well, if Jesus had never been born, he could have never died for us. 03:45.725 --> 03:47.748 [SPEAKER_01]: And that is the big picture story. 03:48.129 --> 03:57.382 [SPEAKER_01]: God chose to send his only son so that he could live and then die so that our sins could be forgiven so that we could be reunited with him in heaven. 03:58.083 --> 04:01.988 [SPEAKER_01]: And that is really big picture for our kids to understand. 04:02.187 --> 04:12.620 [SPEAKER_01]: It's not just about present, then beautiful decorations and cookies, then all of the things that happen around the holiday season, it's really about Jesus. 04:13.080 --> 04:20.789 [SPEAKER_01]: And so I think one of the key things we wanna make sure that you understand when you're listening to this podcast is, we're gonna get into detail. 04:21.330 --> 04:29.680 [SPEAKER_01]: We're gonna talk about historical facts and how you should address certain topics and you need to know that if there are little ears, 04:30.065 --> 04:33.489 [SPEAKER_01]: You might want to encourage them to not listen to this one. 04:34.270 --> 04:34.771 [SPEAKER_01]: Very right. 04:35.632 --> 04:38.055 [SPEAKER_01]: The mom of theirs in the podcast. 04:38.075 --> 04:41.800 [SPEAKER_01]: So maybe listen when you don't have your little ears around. 04:42.140 --> 04:50.431 [SPEAKER_01]: Because we'll be tackling topics that maybe you want to talk with them about yourself, not have them here from the mom of their team. 04:51.673 --> 04:53.255 [SPEAKER_01]: We'll be talking about Saint Nicholas. 04:53.755 --> 04:59.042 [SPEAKER_01]: We'll be talking about paganism, we'll be talking about all sorts of things that 04:59.343 --> 05:02.589 [SPEAKER_01]: are more adult themed than little ears. 05:03.010 --> 05:10.964 [SPEAKER_01]: So I would encourage you to take a moment and maybe get your kids out of the smue or listen to it later when they're not around. 05:12.106 --> 05:18.077 [SPEAKER_01]: But one of the big questions we get decides what are we celebrating is, hey, 05:18.277 --> 05:20.121 [SPEAKER_01]: We heard that Christmas is pagan. 05:20.482 --> 05:22.206 [SPEAKER_01]: She Christians even celebrate it. 05:22.687 --> 05:27.196 [SPEAKER_01]: And so Robin decided that she was gonna tackle that question and she had learned a ton. 05:27.557 --> 05:30.604 [SPEAKER_01]: And Robin, I would love for you to tell our mama bears. 05:31.005 --> 05:34.412 [SPEAKER_01]: What you know about paganism and Christmas. 05:34.814 --> 05:39.908 [SPEAKER_03]: So this is one that I see pop up on my social media a whole lot. 05:40.390 --> 05:43.037 [SPEAKER_03]: Should we be putting up a Christmas tree? 05:43.498 --> 05:48.773 [SPEAKER_03]: Well, actually when you're celebrating the birth of Jesus, that's the first of the Roman God, Miss Russ. 05:49.529 --> 05:55.717 [SPEAKER_03]: So the first thing I came across this really great article on a video, I'm sorry, I am a visual learner. 05:55.777 --> 05:59.342 [SPEAKER_03]: I really enjoy watching videos, especially because I can have it on one doing something else. 05:59.822 --> 06:06.371 [SPEAKER_03]: So I came across this video by on YouTube by Mike Winger is is Christmas pagan and the sense of Christmas. 06:06.952 --> 06:10.997 [SPEAKER_03]: And what do you know, a few of the things that you mentioned really. 06:11.517 --> 06:12.198 [SPEAKER_03]: stood out. 06:12.218 --> 06:24.954 [SPEAKER_03]: So one of the things that people tend to say is, okay, well, Christians were just trying to, they came up with Christmas on December 25th because they were trying to co-op other pagan holidays and celebrations that already existed. 06:25.475 --> 06:32.424 [SPEAKER_03]: So they were trying to replace the winter solstice, or they were trying to have an alternative to Saturnalia. 06:32.764 --> 06:38.351 [SPEAKER_03]: And there's something else called a DS Natalice, so in Vick D, a soul and Vick D, you might have heard of that. 06:38.832 --> 06:40.714 [SPEAKER_03]: That's the one I hadn't actually heard of, 06:41.369 --> 06:45.296 [SPEAKER_03]: What really stood out to me was, okay, let's think about this. 06:45.836 --> 06:50.424 [SPEAKER_03]: The winter solstice is either December 21st or 22nd. 06:51.045 --> 06:58.197 [SPEAKER_03]: Then Saturnalia was originally celebrated on December 17th, but then they extended it with bestivities until December 23rd. 06:58.632 --> 07:16.270 [SPEAKER_03]: I don't know about you, but what comes to mind is some movie set in high school and someone's throwing a party and someone else is going to throw an alternative party and people are too far in between you know everyone else is it's other party okay well this is only going to work if the party's on the same day if I throw a party on. 07:16.402 --> 07:20.250 [SPEAKER_03]: One day, and then someone else has their party on it, and it agree, we can go to both parties. 07:20.971 --> 07:30.210 [SPEAKER_03]: So, we would have, if they were trying to replace these, most likely would have put Christmas day on December 21st, or on December 17th, beginning of it. 07:30.731 --> 07:35.220 [SPEAKER_03]: Now, with so-and-victus, that, 07:35.200 --> 07:50.577 [SPEAKER_03]: It is actually on the 25th now there it's it's some fourth century documents is the first mention of it and in the same document is also mentioned the 25th as the birth of Christ so it's just that. 07:50.827 --> 08:11.294 [SPEAKER_03]: That's really we don't really have much information about it, so which was celebrated first, but even that being a case that doesn't really bother me because I'm finding interesting to be able to talk to people about, but there's really other reasons why December 25th is calculated as the birth of price. 08:11.434 --> 08:15.720 [SPEAKER_03]: Now, do we know for sure, no, we do not know for sure, that December 20th 08:16.173 --> 08:19.257 [SPEAKER_03]: is the birth day of Jesus, their Christ's birth. 08:19.938 --> 08:23.964 [SPEAKER_03]: But there is a reason that the early church calculated that. 08:23.984 --> 08:29.792 [SPEAKER_03]: Now, the very earliest calculations didn't have disparate 25th as the birth day of Christ. 08:29.832 --> 08:32.156 [SPEAKER_03]: They were very interested in figuring out this day. 08:33.518 --> 08:44.273 [SPEAKER_03]: But what they did was, OK, they took looking at the Bible, they were able to determine that the angel gave her 08:44.624 --> 08:50.432 [SPEAKER_03]: to let her know she's going to be giving birth to the Savior around the end of March. 08:50.532 --> 08:52.755 [SPEAKER_03]: They calculated that to be about March 25th. 08:52.836 --> 08:55.680 [SPEAKER_03]: So they consider that, and some people call it the Annunciation. 08:55.720 --> 09:03.831 [SPEAKER_03]: They consider that when Christ was conceived conception, and then nine months later, would be his first in December, approximately December 25th. 09:04.435 --> 09:07.603 [SPEAKER_03]: But they decided to say it was the birth of Jesus. 09:07.683 --> 09:17.950 [SPEAKER_03]: And there's also one interesting thing I want to mention that apparently there was an early Jewish tradition that prophets would die on the same day of their conception. 09:17.970 --> 09:19.474 [SPEAKER_03]: So that's it. 09:19.454 --> 09:22.199 [SPEAKER_03]: But I think that's called integral age. 09:22.279 --> 09:24.082 [SPEAKER_03]: I was reading somewhere very interesting. 09:24.322 --> 09:25.003 [SPEAKER_03]: That's interesting. 09:25.043 --> 09:32.396 [SPEAKER_03]: They were tackling like that from Passover to his death to Christmas would be nine months. 09:32.436 --> 09:36.703 [SPEAKER_03]: So he would have been conceived around that time of March 25th. 09:37.173 --> 09:41.541 [SPEAKER_01]: Well, I had never heard that, Rob, and that is fascinating. 09:42.022 --> 09:54.845 [SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, no, and it's so funny you mentioned that because I growing up, and especially as a teen, those were the exact things that I always told us, oh, the Christians just did that to try and take over the pagan celebration of the solstice, and that's where they were just trying to integrate it. 09:54.885 --> 09:59.012 [SPEAKER_02]: So there's really neat that you kind of tacked in those other things, especially about the dates I hadn't heard that one. 09:59.414 --> 10:25.793 [SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, oh, I did forget to mention that the another big thing you'll hear is the birthday it's the actual there are so many some of the similarities between Jesus and myth Russ it's actually retelling myth Russ or porous or Dionysus and so yeah that's not you when you try to go back to the original ancient documents and find the for the actual original writings talking about these similarities they just don't exist there's apparently some. 10:25.773 --> 10:30.524 [SPEAKER_03]: modern sources and then they all cite each other, going back and forth. 10:30.544 --> 10:32.369 [SPEAKER_03]: So it's something we're looking into. 10:32.709 --> 10:40.027 [SPEAKER_03]: There's this a channel called Lutheran Satire, and they have this really fun video that talks about Horace ruins Christmas. 10:40.187 --> 10:43.495 [SPEAKER_03]: So that's a fun one to watch if you enjoy Satire. 10:43.660 --> 10:45.263 [SPEAKER_01]: I love Lutheran Satter. 10:45.363 --> 10:55.844 [SPEAKER_01]: We have recommended them to our mama bears before and I definitely think that if you have not stumbled on their channel that you should take some time and check them out. 10:55.864 --> 11:00.032 [SPEAKER_01]: They come out with some hard truths, but they make them so funny. 11:00.333 --> 11:02.498 [SPEAKER_01]: and so engaging and accessible. 11:02.979 --> 11:08.513 [SPEAKER_01]: So definitely shout out to the Lutheran Satire team and go watch some of their videos. 11:08.593 --> 11:15.810 [SPEAKER_01]: If you're looking for ways to explain very difficult topics to your kit, like the Trinity, for example, go for it. 11:16.448 --> 11:23.618 [SPEAKER_02]: Well, in speaking of Lutheran, Robin, you were saying you had kind of some interesting factoids about Christmas trees and Martin Luther. 11:24.299 --> 11:24.599 [SPEAKER_03]: Oh, yes. 11:24.659 --> 11:28.765 [SPEAKER_03]: So this is the one that, well, I really enjoyed putting my Christmas tree up on an enjoy the light. 11:28.785 --> 11:35.955 [SPEAKER_03]: So it was something I wanted to be able to talk about with friends who were saying, well, we're not going to be putting that up because it's a pagan tradition. 11:36.576 --> 11:40.802 [SPEAKER_03]: And what I had found out in there's not. 11:41.947 --> 12:06.503 [SPEAKER_03]: The art tradition are putting up the Christmas tree and it goes back to the end and all tradition of the story of Martin Luther in Germany walking home through the through a pine forest when you are opposed it for a fur tree forest and he is an evergreen forest and they saw the stars shining above the trees and it was just breathtaking so he brought a tree into the house to use to explain to his children. 12:06.483 --> 12:14.943 [SPEAKER_03]: that to remind them about Christ coming down from the heavens and he put the candles lighting them on the tree as to represent the stars. 12:15.164 --> 12:23.243 [SPEAKER_03]: And so that's what we our tradition can really date back into the to this apparently Germans were the first, you know. 12:23.223 --> 12:28.534 [SPEAKER_03]: more recently, they would bring the tree into the house specifically as a Christmas tree. 12:28.995 --> 12:37.333 [SPEAKER_03]: And then when Prince Albert went, we came part of the royal family in Great Britain, he brought fur trees over to the royal house. 12:37.685 --> 12:45.694 [SPEAKER_03]: And put them up there and they were decorated and they had an ornaments and presents underneath and this is also from Mike Winger's video. 12:45.714 --> 12:53.784 [SPEAKER_03]: I was really interesting that I was watching so that at that time newspapers would come and do drawings of the royal family in front of the Christmas tree. 12:54.425 --> 12:59.811 [SPEAKER_03]: And so when these drawings would be shown in the newspaper one time one time they did it in front of the Christmas tree. 13:00.145 --> 13:16.733 [SPEAKER_03]: And the people of the British Empire saw the royal family doing that in the course, what do they want to do they want to go to Christmas tree to like the royal family and it also spread over to to America that way and then I guess we're determined immigrants it would have come as well. 13:16.853 --> 13:18.576 [SPEAKER_03]: So as far as the um, 13:19.501 --> 13:20.883 [SPEAKER_03]: Pagan roots of the Christmas tree. 13:20.923 --> 13:27.751 [SPEAKER_03]: If if others did, in fact, a tree itself is not in inherently pagan. 13:27.831 --> 13:28.091 [SPEAKER_03]: Right. 13:28.271 --> 13:30.174 [SPEAKER_03]: It was not created to be a pagan object. 13:30.214 --> 13:34.058 [SPEAKER_03]: It was not invented by Pagan's to be a pagan object. 13:34.839 --> 13:37.082 [SPEAKER_03]: I guess just let me take an aside here. 13:37.102 --> 13:39.205 [SPEAKER_03]: This is something I just want to clarify and look up. 13:39.565 --> 13:41.327 [SPEAKER_03]: But what does Pagan even mean? 13:41.427 --> 13:43.770 [SPEAKER_03]: And so on, I was looking at the first 13:43.750 --> 13:57.510 [SPEAKER_03]: comes up as it's heathen, which someone who does not acknowledge the God of the Bible, or someone from a polytheistic religion, just someone who is not, it's not, it's their non-Christian tradition. 13:57.590 --> 14:07.325 [SPEAKER_03]: So we're trying to, I think, keep our concern with us having our Christian traditions and our Christian celebrating all these things, and then with non-Christian elements. 14:07.385 --> 14:08.847 [SPEAKER_03]: I think that's the 14:08.827 --> 14:16.976 [SPEAKER_03]: But with the tree, and one thing that was very interesting, you need to come up lightly, apparently, is in pet Christians themselves. 14:17.117 --> 14:30.632 [SPEAKER_03]: You use Jeremiah 10 versus 2 through 4 as a, as a reference, a biblical, biblical proof as why we as Christians should not have Christmas trees to talk about going out in the forest and cutting down a tree. 14:31.456 --> 14:43.170 [SPEAKER_03]: and setting it up and decorating with gold and silver, but it's only looking at versus two to four people and that people cite those and they don't usually look further to see the whole context of your Maya at the end. 14:43.420 --> 14:57.917 [SPEAKER_03]: If you read the chapter, you will is clearly understood that this is referring to someone carving an idol out of the tree and decorating it was real gold and real silver and you're putting it up. 14:58.437 --> 15:08.449 [SPEAKER_03]: So this is something that's not a verse that would be prohibiting Christmas trees specifically referring to an idol being crafted from a tree. 15:09.205 --> 15:13.450 [SPEAKER_01]: Two things about what you just said, Robin, what context is everything? 15:13.550 --> 15:18.856 [SPEAKER_01]: When you're reading scripture, please look at the context of the verse. 15:18.916 --> 15:28.567 [SPEAKER_01]: Sometimes people will intentionally take things out of context to make scripture seem to say something that it actually doesn't. 15:28.607 --> 15:30.088 [SPEAKER_01]: We'll see A.B.S. 15:30.689 --> 15:32.511 [SPEAKER_01]: who's the Bible says there is no God. 15:32.551 --> 15:37.997 [SPEAKER_01]: We'll know the Bible actually says, the full says in his heart, there is no God. 15:38.028 --> 15:51.750 [SPEAKER_01]: If you take out that first part, then yes, the Bible says there is no God, but that's not the context, so that's the one thing one thing I took from that the other is I think we need to get the mom of our team together and have a portrait done in front of the Christmas tree. 15:53.613 --> 15:53.954 [SPEAKER_01]: You should. 15:54.495 --> 15:55.817 [SPEAKER_02]: That would be awesome. 15:55.797 --> 16:00.325 [SPEAKER_02]: Well, that's one thing that's so pretty about the Christmas tree, too, is there's there is a lot of symbolism in it. 16:00.385 --> 16:06.517 [SPEAKER_02]: I love that you pointed out and some references it and I forget if it's in his monologian or proslogue. 16:06.557 --> 16:12.167 [SPEAKER_02]: But he talks about how the thing in and of itself isn't inherently evil or wrong in the career and a tree in and of itself. 16:12.187 --> 16:13.249 [SPEAKER_02]: I love that you pointed that out. 16:13.630 --> 16:15.493 [SPEAKER_02]: And I mean, there's so many things. 16:15.473 --> 16:22.886 [SPEAKER_02]: things that when we look at the tree, that's why we have angels or stars at the top of the tree to point to the stars at the angels singing the birth of Christ. 16:22.906 --> 16:28.094 [SPEAKER_02]: I mean, there's so many opportunities for us to even point toward Christ even within our decorations and I love that. 16:28.735 --> 16:33.263 [SPEAKER_02]: And one thing that we always get asked each year, 16:33.243 --> 16:34.766 [SPEAKER_02]: comes back to Santa Claus. 16:34.886 --> 16:35.727 [SPEAKER_02]: In fact, it was great. 16:35.767 --> 16:40.695 [SPEAKER_02]: I had a conversation with one of the Momma bears on our Facebook chat about this very thing. 16:40.715 --> 16:46.845 [SPEAKER_02]: And I think it actually ended up coming out around Halloween because it started with, okay, how do we talk about Halloween? 16:46.865 --> 16:48.769 [SPEAKER_02]: And then it morphed into Christmas. 16:49.189 --> 16:49.870 [SPEAKER_02]: And it's great. 16:49.890 --> 16:51.433 [SPEAKER_02]: She's a mom and bear from Australia. 16:51.453 --> 16:53.737 [SPEAKER_02]: So, hi, great to greet you. 16:53.757 --> 16:54.298 [SPEAKER_02]: You connected. 16:54.318 --> 16:56.922 [SPEAKER_02]: It's awesome that we connect with these moms. 16:56.902 --> 16:57.804 [SPEAKER_02]: all around the world. 16:58.125 --> 17:03.901 [SPEAKER_02]: But yeah, St. Nicholas, that's a big, that's a tough one for a lot of moms is okay. 17:03.961 --> 17:04.422 [SPEAKER_02]: What do we do? 17:04.462 --> 17:05.946 [SPEAKER_02]: Because he's everywhere. 17:05.986 --> 17:09.154 [SPEAKER_02]: You go to the mall, you go to the store, the commercials, on the TV. 17:09.576 --> 17:10.197 [SPEAKER_02]: He's right there. 17:10.257 --> 17:11.260 [SPEAKER_02]: What do you say to kids? 17:11.440 --> 17:12.042 [SPEAKER_02]: And 17:12.022 --> 17:20.551 [SPEAKER_02]: Is it okay to actually talk about Santa or even have that tradition within the home and, you know, still be pointed to Christ or is there going to be that contention there. 17:20.972 --> 17:40.172 [SPEAKER_02]: So we just want to point a little bit to that for our household, um, full disclosure, I was raised in a in a household that, you know, we did say, and we left the cookies and milk by the tree or by the by the fireplace and everything we've done that with our boys, but we've also pointed out the truth of it, too, because they have us and kids do so. 17:40.152 --> 18:01.165 [SPEAKER_02]: When we look at St. Nicholas, there's been some references which Robin, you actually kind of pointed a little bit to is there's some sort of pagan reference in there that kind of point toward Odin is maybe being this beginner of Santa Claus, not really, I mean, you had this amazing beard, but that's really kind of all the translation really when you look back at it, there was a, a bishop. 18:01.145 --> 18:19.976 [SPEAKER_02]: of Maira, which is now Turkey, who was St. Nicholas, and so as the story goes, because again, the accounts of his life for oral traditions that were passed down for several generations before they were actually documented, and that's where it's so, according to tradition, St. Nicholas was born of wealthy parents. 18:20.076 --> 18:23.341 [SPEAKER_02]: He was born in Petara, Lycia, or is it Lycia? 18:23.401 --> 18:25.785 [SPEAKER_02]: I've never quite 18:25.765 --> 18:36.058 [SPEAKER_02]: Well, anyways, his parents ended up passing away, and so because he was wealthy and well cared for, he was well educated, he was brought up, and he had just this kind giving nature. 18:36.338 --> 18:41.725 [SPEAKER_02]: He actually loved giving little secret gifts, sort of tucking them away to where people would just be surprised. 18:41.885 --> 18:47.352 [SPEAKER_02]: I don't know, maybe open a drawer or something and see a gift and they kind of knew all must have been Saint Nicholas who was doing that. 18:47.332 --> 18:59.390 [SPEAKER_02]: Well, one of the biggest traditions with St. Nicholas is that he actually helped rescue three daughters from Destitution back then if you had daughters, but you didn't have a dowry, there wasn't much hope for them to ever get married. 18:59.450 --> 19:03.195 [SPEAKER_02]: So they were going to either have to be reduced to begging or prostitution or that sort. 19:03.656 --> 19:05.118 [SPEAKER_02]: Nicholas was not having that. 19:05.198 --> 19:10.065 [SPEAKER_02]: So what he would do is he would wait until night and then toss a little bag of money into the house. 19:10.045 --> 19:12.848 [SPEAKER_02]: and he did that for three nights in a row one for each daughter. 19:12.948 --> 19:18.094 [SPEAKER_02]: So if in your stockings, when you guys were a little, did you ever get those little bags of chocolate coins that were wrapped in gold? 19:18.315 --> 19:25.643 [SPEAKER_02]: Okay, you probably, you probably didn't know, and your parents probably didn't know that's actually a reference to St. Nicholas because he would toss the money. 19:25.663 --> 19:30.709 [SPEAKER_02]: There's even a tradition that when he threw it, it actually fell into a stocking that was drying by the fire. 19:31.049 --> 19:34.433 [SPEAKER_02]: So I don't know if that one's true, but it's just just charming. 19:34.413 --> 19:39.260 [SPEAKER_02]: And so eventually when the dad, you know, he noticed that these money was magically appearing. 19:39.300 --> 19:46.410 [SPEAKER_02]: So he ended up waiting up one night, any caught St. Nicholas and St. Nicholas, who are him not to tell, just don't tell anyone the what I'm doing. 19:46.510 --> 19:51.497 [SPEAKER_02]: And so it's just, that's why he's the patron saint of children of the unmarried, even sailors. 19:51.537 --> 19:55.021 [SPEAKER_02]: There's a story about him helping out some sailors who are trapped in a storm. 19:55.442 --> 20:01.230 [SPEAKER_02]: Well, one thing that I love and my boys, if you 20:01.210 --> 20:04.475 [SPEAKER_02]: He was an attendee at the Council of NICIA. 20:05.216 --> 20:14.269 [SPEAKER_02]: And as the legend goes, Arias was there if you've ever heard of Arianism, that's the belief that Jesus wasn't co-eturnal with God. 20:14.289 --> 20:16.092 [SPEAKER_02]: He was actually created within time. 20:16.472 --> 20:30.272 [SPEAKER_02]: So, he was trying to say, oh, well, Jesus isn't co-eturnal with God and Nicholas was so outraged that he got up and decked the guys, knocked him out of his chair and ended up getting tossed in prison for a time 20:30.252 --> 20:32.376 [SPEAKER_02]: So, it's hilarious. 20:32.436 --> 20:33.999 [SPEAKER_02]: My boys find that story so funny. 20:34.240 --> 20:44.200 [SPEAKER_02]: They love the fact that that Santa isn't, you know, and it's funny because when you look at the old paintings, he has the white beard, he has the red cloak, the traditional church painting. 20:44.220 --> 20:50.472 [SPEAKER_02]: So it's so fun to see him, but then to know that Santa also did time and punched a guy is pretty hilarious to kids. 20:50.452 --> 20:58.523 [SPEAKER_02]: So these are just some fun things that you can tell your kids that, okay, when we think of St. Nicholas, he was a Christian that actually existed. 20:58.804 --> 21:00.186 [SPEAKER_02]: He was a bishop within the church. 21:00.226 --> 21:01.688 [SPEAKER_02]: He was fervent for the gospel. 21:01.748 --> 21:07.156 [SPEAKER_02]: He loved people and gave his wealth away to others, and that is where we kind of get the tradition of gift-giving. 21:07.176 --> 21:08.117 [SPEAKER_02]: It's through St. Nicholas. 21:08.477 --> 21:17.370 [SPEAKER_02]: So when you're discussing that point to some of these things with your kiddos, that, you know, it's fun, they'll enjoy it, and it's really neat just to have those little, a little 21:17.350 --> 21:19.375 [SPEAKER_02]: So, and also neat. 21:19.676 --> 21:23.405 [SPEAKER_02]: So, his death was accounted for as December 6. 21:23.726 --> 21:30.583 [SPEAKER_02]: So, if you've ever been in Germany or you've known anyone with German heritage that celebrate St. Nicholas Day, that is where that came from. 21:30.663 --> 21:33.570 [SPEAKER_02]: So, on December 6, what children in. 21:33.550 --> 22:01.684 [SPEAKER_02]: in Germany or European countries would do is they would leave their little wooden shoes outside and typically they would go to service, they would go to masks and then when they come back their shoe was filled with little candies and cookies and treats and fun things I had a friend who had German parents and they would do this to where they would leave out their their tennis shoe and then we have little goodies and stuff in there on December 6 so again that's pointing back to the bishop where we get sort of this tradition of Santa Claus so it's just neat stuff. 22:01.664 --> 22:24.706 [SPEAKER_01]: So Amy, what should parents do about the whole Santa Claus thing then, because a lot of times what will happen is, and we've heard parents say this to us is, if I teach my kid that Santa Claus is real, and then later, tell him, he's not real, what about my discussions regarding Jesus? 22:25.507 --> 22:30.912 [SPEAKER_01]: Will my child then question whether or not what I told them about Jesus is reliable? 22:31.195 --> 22:33.392 [SPEAKER_01]: How should they manage that conversation? 22:33.507 --> 22:33.927 [SPEAKER_02]: Right. 22:34.068 --> 22:34.268 [SPEAKER_02]: Right. 22:34.328 --> 22:36.531 [SPEAKER_02]: So I always lead with lead by conviction. 22:36.751 --> 22:42.938 [SPEAKER_02]: If you were convicted, not to carry on just sort of the, you know, because they even have Santa trackers nowadays that you can use if if you're not. 22:43.098 --> 22:44.340 [SPEAKER_01]: No, or red guy. 22:44.420 --> 22:45.922 [SPEAKER_02]: Yes, from NORAD. 22:46.062 --> 22:46.482 [SPEAKER_02]: Yeah. 22:46.583 --> 22:52.229 [SPEAKER_02]: So if you feel convicted not to do that, I always always lead by conviction. 22:52.269 --> 22:52.409 [SPEAKER_02]: Right. 22:52.429 --> 22:53.651 [SPEAKER_02]: The Holy Spirit speaks through us. 22:54.151 --> 23:02.181 [SPEAKER_02]: I would then I would emphasize the tradition of it more is like we do this in sort of this tradition of love and giving and that sort. 23:02.161 --> 23:14.380 [SPEAKER_02]: And yeah, and putting up the, like we were talking about with St. Nicholas's discussions, we've done it with our kids to where, you know, when they were little, we did this, the same thing, we've transitioned into understanding who St. Nicholas is. 23:14.720 --> 23:19.908 [SPEAKER_02]: And then it's also helpful to point out to there's very big differences between Jesus and Santa Claus. 23:20.229 --> 23:30.244 [SPEAKER_02]: You know, I think sometimes the fear is that they seem very similar and not all Santa Claus is very much workspace and you're 23:30.224 --> 23:59.488 [SPEAKER_02]: The bargaining thing is I'm going to ask for some specific thing and then get that specific thing and you know Christ isn't more space his grace is for all and that he doesn't just give us everything that we want right because that would be a disaster can you imagine you know we'd all be married to to the boy that we had a crush on in sixth grade and you know and we'd all be veterinarians and it would be terrible and and so where is where is God he he gives us what we need he shapes character and that sort so it's important to point out the differences if you feel convicted not to do the Santa Claus tradition that's 23:59.468 --> 24:00.149 [SPEAKER_02]: only fine. 24:00.350 --> 24:01.532 [SPEAKER_02]: You know, honor that sort of thing. 24:01.572 --> 24:03.235 [SPEAKER_02]: I've known people who they don't do the trees. 24:03.275 --> 24:03.916 [SPEAKER_02]: They don't do decorating. 24:03.936 --> 24:05.419 [SPEAKER_02]: They don't even give presents at Christmas. 24:05.740 --> 24:08.485 [SPEAKER_02]: You know, you have to lead by conviction and point toward truth. 24:09.567 --> 24:09.807 [SPEAKER_01]: Good. 24:10.028 --> 24:10.328 [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah. 24:10.348 --> 24:17.361 [SPEAKER_01]: I would say that our mama bear team is varied in the way that we all handle the Santa Claus issue. 24:18.163 --> 24:22.050 [SPEAKER_01]: My kids have never been told about 24:22.638 --> 24:24.880 [SPEAKER_01]: Santa Claus being a real figure. 24:24.940 --> 24:26.682 [SPEAKER_01]: They know he was a historical figure. 24:27.043 --> 24:29.165 [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, but we don't give them guest room Santa. 24:29.665 --> 24:35.071 [SPEAKER_01]: On the other hand, I was raised with guest room Santa and that was that was fine. 24:35.892 --> 24:40.477 [SPEAKER_01]: So I really think that just acknowledging that this is not a main thing, right? 24:40.517 --> 24:47.164 [SPEAKER_01]: The main thing is that Christ was born so that we live in eternity with God. 24:47.525 --> 24:49.527 [SPEAKER_01]: That's the main thing, who is Jesus? 24:49.647 --> 24:50.788 [SPEAKER_01]: That's the main thing. 24:51.241 --> 25:19.324 [SPEAKER_01]: Whether or not you choose to share a Santa tradition with your children is not a main thing and I think sometimes it creates unnecessary division amongst church goers and we are passing judgment on others for doing things that are different from the way that we do them if it's not a main thing let it go there are too many other things for us to think about in this world. 25:19.557 --> 25:22.924 [SPEAKER_01]: than worrying about non-main things. 25:23.445 --> 25:30.540 [SPEAKER_01]: So I just want to encourage you, Mama's and Papa's to, like Amy said, live out your convictions. 25:30.860 --> 25:33.907 [SPEAKER_01]: And if this is something that connects you, don't do it. 25:34.668 --> 25:36.833 [SPEAKER_01]: And if it doesn't, have at it. 25:37.374 --> 25:39.338 [SPEAKER_01]: And do so with joy. 25:39.537 --> 25:49.266 [SPEAKER_01]: either way and find family traditions that work for your family and your children and we will talk about some of our family traditions in a few minutes. 25:50.286 --> 25:54.250 [SPEAKER_01]: But I would love to tackle one more controversy before we get there. 25:54.710 --> 26:01.776 [SPEAKER_01]: And that is maybe a few years ago, I always guessed the length of time wrong. 26:01.857 --> 26:02.958 [SPEAKER_01]: It was probably 20 years ago. 26:03.058 --> 26:03.478 [SPEAKER_01]: I don't know. 26:04.619 --> 26:09.223 [SPEAKER_01]: Several years ago there was 26:09.490 --> 26:14.357 [SPEAKER_01]: a certain store, not encouraging its employees to say Merry Christmas. 26:15.298 --> 26:18.142 [SPEAKER_01]: Now, that ended up not being fact, okay? 26:18.163 --> 26:32.343 [SPEAKER_01]: They were never told they couldn't say Merry Christmas, but because of the rumor that was going around on the internet, there was a cancellation of this particular store over the holidays. 26:32.964 --> 26:35.127 [SPEAKER_01]: And so the question becomes, 26:35.410 --> 26:55.900 [SPEAKER_01]: Is it okay for Christians just to say happy holidays or do we have to say Merry Christmas and I want to address that because as you may know my specialty is world religion and so I work with a lot of different types of world views and they celebrate different religions different holidays. 26:56.555 --> 26:58.118 [SPEAKER_01]: especially in this season. 26:58.138 --> 27:05.310 [SPEAKER_01]: I think Robin explained it great like there are different things that happen during this ever that don't have anything to do with Christianity. 27:05.951 --> 27:15.247 [SPEAKER_01]: And so how do we find balance when we are engaging with our neighbors who have different world views, not all of them will celebrate Christmas. 27:15.327 --> 27:17.291 [SPEAKER_01]: We have neighbors who do not celebrate Christmas. 27:17.892 --> 27:22.039 [SPEAKER_01]: And so what happens when they're 27:22.610 --> 27:32.228 [SPEAKER_01]: saying happy holidays loops everybody in and it's an inclusive phrase, so if an employee at the store says happy holidays, love it. 27:33.089 --> 27:39.842 [SPEAKER_01]: Don't be offended by that because they are not making assumptions about who you are or what you might celebrate. 27:40.058 --> 27:42.020 [SPEAKER_01]: Instead, they're saying, happy holidays. 27:42.100 --> 27:43.762 [SPEAKER_01]: I hope this season is great for you. 27:43.802 --> 27:44.823 [SPEAKER_01]: They're wishing you well. 27:45.284 --> 27:46.285 [SPEAKER_01]: Wish them well back. 27:46.345 --> 27:48.207 [SPEAKER_01]: You can respond back with happy holidays. 27:48.608 --> 27:49.949 [SPEAKER_01]: You can say Merry Christmas. 27:50.510 --> 27:53.033 [SPEAKER_01]: However, you feel like you want to respond as fine. 27:53.393 --> 27:54.875 [SPEAKER_01]: But don't be offended by this. 27:55.255 --> 27:58.559 [SPEAKER_01]: I think sometimes we're just looking for things to be offended by. 27:58.619 --> 27:59.740 [SPEAKER_01]: Right. 28:01.542 --> 28:03.164 [SPEAKER_01]: I don't know that it's necessary. 28:04.005 --> 28:09.171 [SPEAKER_01]: Because I think happy holidays 28:09.455 --> 28:17.042 [SPEAKER_01]: to show kindness to all, not to give a group out, not to offend Christians or be anti-Christian. 28:18.083 --> 28:24.549 [SPEAKER_01]: But if you have Jewish friends, make sure you reach out to them and encourage them during the Hanukkah season. 28:25.190 --> 28:30.155 [SPEAKER_01]: If you've got friends to celebrate Kwanza, it wouldn't be terrible to say happy Kwanza to them. 28:30.835 --> 28:36.981 [SPEAKER_01]: There are so many holidays, know the people around you and figure out what it is that they celebrate. 28:37.180 --> 29:05.466 [SPEAKER_01]: And I'm not telling you that you need to change the way your traditions are because you've got friends or family that do things differently, but it is a nice thing to do to recognize, oh, yeah, you do you do, you do Quanza telling more about that what what is Quanza and that opens the door to having a great conversation with your neighbor, I remember when my daughter was in kindergarten, one of my daughters was in kindergarten and she had a little friend who was Jewish, 29:06.138 --> 29:11.484 [SPEAKER_01]: And they allowed him to come in and teach them a little bit about Hanukkah. 29:11.724 --> 29:14.327 [SPEAKER_01]: And she came home a day with a little dreadal. 29:14.387 --> 29:16.089 [SPEAKER_01]: And she was singing dreadal dreadal dreadal. 29:16.429 --> 29:19.713 [SPEAKER_01]: And she was so excited to roll this tradition. 29:19.773 --> 29:21.014 [SPEAKER_01]: Did she become Jewish? 29:21.414 --> 29:21.615 [SPEAKER_01]: No. 29:21.995 --> 29:23.777 [SPEAKER_01]: But she became more loving of her friend. 29:24.137 --> 29:27.241 [SPEAKER_01]: Because she was able to say, hey, what did you get today? 29:27.301 --> 29:35.790 [SPEAKER_01]: And she was able to really connect with him on that level. 29:36.142 --> 29:42.952 [SPEAKER_01]: Um, be a close of when you can be, um, and and reach out and build bridges, not barricades. 29:43.032 --> 29:49.762 [SPEAKER_01]: I think opening the doors and saying, oh, I got Jewish neighbors who aren't going to have Christmas lights or a Christmas tree. 29:50.143 --> 29:56.111 [SPEAKER_01]: Maybe I should bake them some cookies and just give it to them and not and tell them happy Hanika. 29:56.572 --> 29:58.575 [SPEAKER_01]: Um, that wouldn't be a terrible thing to do. 29:59.537 --> 29:59.617 [SPEAKER_02]: Hmm. 29:59.637 --> 30:05.305 [SPEAKER_02]: No, I love that because it, it really takes you off that defensive mode because so many, 30:05.285 --> 30:09.671 [SPEAKER_02]: And I've even heard it said, you know, oh, if they're saying happy holidays, that means they're anti-Christmas, and they're not. 30:09.731 --> 30:10.872 [SPEAKER_02]: And like, why are we trying to fight? 30:11.293 --> 30:13.696 [SPEAKER_02]: You know, so I love that you point that out, because it does. 30:13.776 --> 30:17.661 [SPEAKER_02]: It builds bridges and it opens doors for future apologetic engagement, too. 30:17.681 --> 30:21.086 [SPEAKER_02]: You get to learn about other people, minister to other people, understand their culture. 30:21.386 --> 30:23.469 [SPEAKER_02]: It really is an opportunity for learning and growth. 30:23.489 --> 30:25.071 [SPEAKER_02]: And I love that you point it that out, Lindsay. 30:26.473 --> 30:28.896 [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, and so speaking of traditions. 30:29.281 --> 30:33.187 [SPEAKER_01]: We all have, we've been able to chat about it before we've started recording. 30:33.488 --> 30:41.100 [SPEAKER_01]: We've all got some traditions, and Robin, I know that in your family, one of the things that you emphasize is advent. 30:41.501 --> 30:50.175 [SPEAKER_01]: So tell us a little bit more about maybe what advent is and how your family has started to incorporate that into your Christmas tradition. 30:50.915 --> 30:55.624 [SPEAKER_03]: Yes, so I'm still kind of trying to figure out everything I, you know, everything we want to do. 30:55.824 --> 30:56.947 [SPEAKER_03]: I have a two year old. 30:56.967 --> 30:59.572 [SPEAKER_03]: So I have she's just now starting to process things. 30:59.952 --> 31:01.435 [SPEAKER_03]: I've a little bit of time to figure this out. 31:01.676 --> 31:05.503 [SPEAKER_03]: But growing up when we went to church, they would like the advent candle every Sunday. 31:05.523 --> 31:06.966 [SPEAKER_03]: And. 31:06.946 --> 31:20.950 [SPEAKER_03]: when I had gone to church later as an adult that church hadn't put up the avid candles and so I had noticed that and I was I missed it and I like what I like was being able to have that reminder the entire month of December or sometimes starts a little bit early. 31:21.150 --> 31:30.186 [SPEAKER_03]: It is in November this year, but I like being able to have that reminder and to prepare our hearts about the whole reason why Christ came into kind of to help. 31:30.166 --> 31:35.635 [SPEAKER_03]: us feel as well that longing and that expectation for him, her his when he does arrive. 31:35.695 --> 31:38.339 [SPEAKER_03]: So, why do I did put up an advent race? 31:38.940 --> 31:40.243 [SPEAKER_03]: We do have a Christmas tree up. 31:40.763 --> 31:45.692 [SPEAKER_03]: We love the star on top, representing the star over Bethlehem. 31:45.752 --> 31:47.855 [SPEAKER_03]: I have the advent race with the candles. 31:48.276 --> 31:52.663 [SPEAKER_03]: And one resource that I loved that I found was the advent book. 31:52.643 --> 31:53.946 [SPEAKER_03]: It can see here. 31:53.966 --> 31:55.329 [SPEAKER_03]: It's kind of pretty ornate. 31:55.709 --> 31:57.653 [SPEAKER_03]: You can see the star right there. 31:57.674 --> 31:59.076 [SPEAKER_03]: There's actually a little gym there. 31:59.377 --> 32:01.842 [SPEAKER_03]: And it has the red ties. 32:01.862 --> 32:05.310 [SPEAKER_03]: And so what is this each day that there is a door. 32:05.490 --> 32:07.935 [SPEAKER_03]: I'm sorry if you. 32:07.915 --> 32:20.992 [SPEAKER_03]: So my love that you grab her, she doesn't like being separated, especially since you know as I have this book, every day there is a door to open and what it goes through is it goes through Luke II, I believe is what it follows and it goes through the Christmas story. 32:21.032 --> 32:25.798 [SPEAKER_03]: And each day there is a door you open that tells part of the Christmas story. 32:26.399 --> 32:30.484 [SPEAKER_03]: So it's very, it's beautiful, it's so pretty. 32:30.504 --> 32:33.788 [SPEAKER_03]: Here we go, there we go, we're trying to show that. 32:33.768 --> 32:34.629 [SPEAKER_03]: I love it. 32:34.649 --> 32:52.093 [SPEAKER_03]: So I did just want to caveat this real quick as I was reading that in traditional celebrations of Advent, you're starting with the Old Testament prophets and then going through the prophecy, the telling of the coming of Christ and ending on the 24th with His, with the arrival of Christ. 32:52.113 --> 32:55.658 [SPEAKER_03]: This one, you know, Jesus, the baby Jesus, show up on 32:55.638 --> 32:59.264 [SPEAKER_03]: that day seven or eight or something because it's just following the Christmas story and looked too. 32:59.365 --> 33:01.188 [SPEAKER_03]: So I did want to add that in. 33:01.228 --> 33:02.170 [SPEAKER_03]: But we still love it. 33:02.230 --> 33:13.550 [SPEAKER_03]: It's something that we get to do every day as a reminder that the of the coming, what we're celebrating and so we just thought that that's awesome. 33:13.890 --> 33:14.612 [SPEAKER_02]: What about you Lindsay? 33:14.632 --> 33:17.697 [SPEAKER_02]: What are some traditions that you have in the Medenwald household? 33:17.963 --> 33:27.595 [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, so I'm actually sitting, you can't see where I'm sitting, which is lovely because my favorite thing about Zoom is that nobody can see how my computer is set up. 33:27.995 --> 33:32.801 [SPEAKER_01]: But it's on a bookshelf right now, shocking, I know, but like a hundred bookshelves. 33:33.161 --> 33:43.093 [SPEAKER_01]: But one of the things that we started doing when my, I guess she's my middle child, because he adopted a child four years ago, my middle child was born is, 33:43.073 --> 33:55.530 [SPEAKER_01]: gingerbread houses with my mom and so she would bring the gingerbread houses and I've actually got the boxes PS hot tip they come pre-made now 33:55.966 --> 34:04.302 [SPEAKER_01]: you can buy them so that you do not have to put the houses together and then you can just enjoy decorating which is what everybody looks forward to anyway. 34:04.342 --> 34:06.587 [SPEAKER_01]: So buy them pre-made. 34:06.727 --> 34:10.314 [SPEAKER_01]: I think it's like a dollar extra and it's totally worth it. 34:10.915 --> 34:14.963 [SPEAKER_01]: But we buy all different kinds of gingerbread houses. 34:15.023 --> 34:16.506 [SPEAKER_01]: And um... 34:16.739 --> 34:44.687 [SPEAKER_01]: right now, we've been zooming with my parents because we live far away and so we will connect actually this Sunday and decorate with my aunt with my mom, she has her own gingerbread house in South Dakota and we will enjoy that tradition together over the computer but everyone in my 34:44.667 --> 34:50.537 [SPEAKER_01]: building extraordinary things together and then eating the candy after words for like two weeks. 34:51.539 --> 34:54.084 [SPEAKER_01]: So that's one of the traditions we do every year. 34:54.144 --> 34:55.907 [SPEAKER_01]: We did an app at Collin Dirtu. 34:55.947 --> 35:04.041 [SPEAKER_01]: R's just, R's usually we do the like dollar candy at that one so they open and they get a little chalkman out of it. 35:04.703 --> 35:06.085 [SPEAKER_01]: This year I bought um, 35:06.841 --> 35:09.486 [SPEAKER_01]: A Lego set one and it's it's great. 35:09.526 --> 35:25.773 [SPEAKER_01]: They love it because they get to build a new Lego set every day and and that's been really fun for them, but yesterday I was asking my girl like, what are your favorite traditions and and my youngest she's having she goes, well mom, I used to really love our at that calendars, but this year there's no chocolate. 35:28.378 --> 35:29.680 [SPEAKER_02]: I left my own heart. 35:29.740 --> 35:30.662 [SPEAKER_02]: She's like, where's the job. 35:30.762 --> 35:30.942 [SPEAKER_01]: I. 35:31.360 --> 35:37.347 [SPEAKER_01]: substantial more, it's sort of funny, I'm just like a sad one and you want the dollar chocolate. 35:37.367 --> 35:55.309 [SPEAKER_01]: So, um, I think we've been incorporating more about like let's settle our hearts and and talk about what, um, what Christmas is really about, but we do have a very fun way of doing that with our advent calendars and then a cake for Jesus on yeah for 25. 35:55.289 --> 35:59.135 [SPEAKER_01]: Because I think that's a really fun thing to do with kids as well. 35:59.816 --> 36:00.396 [SPEAKER_02]: That's awesome. 36:00.477 --> 36:03.261 [SPEAKER_02]: And you know, you're not the first family I've heard that makes a cake. 36:03.401 --> 36:05.504 [SPEAKER_02]: And they're like, yeah, it's for Jesus, but it's also cake. 36:05.524 --> 36:06.445 [SPEAKER_02]: So bonus. 36:07.046 --> 36:09.610 [SPEAKER_02]: It's so Amy, tell me about your tradition. 36:10.051 --> 36:10.591 [SPEAKER_02]: So it's funny. 36:10.611 --> 36:13.476 [SPEAKER_02]: You mentioned that you didn't do the chocolate ones and you did the lego ones. 36:13.556 --> 36:14.637 [SPEAKER_02]: We always did the lego ones. 36:14.697 --> 36:16.700 [SPEAKER_02]: And this year we got the chocolate one. 36:17.522 --> 36:19.104 [SPEAKER_02]: Maybe a little Christmas baby Yoda. 36:19.785 --> 36:22.008 [SPEAKER_02]: And my kids are like, well, this is cool. 36:22.068 --> 36:24.672 [SPEAKER_02]: But I kind of miss building like a lot. 36:24.652 --> 36:30.503 [SPEAKER_02]: Our kids need to switch, so friends between boys and girls there. 36:30.523 --> 36:33.228 [SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, a little bit, a little bit, so I should have grabbed it. 36:33.248 --> 36:36.975 [SPEAKER_02]: We've got this adent calendar on our wall, and it's just the cutest thing. 36:37.055 --> 36:42.506 [SPEAKER_02]: It actually, each of the pieces is a little character from the story of Jesus' first. 36:42.566 --> 36:45.972 [SPEAKER_02]: So you've got the wise men, you've got care, I'll grab it really soon. 36:46.433 --> 36:47.014 [SPEAKER_02]: Okay. 36:46.994 --> 36:47.615 [SPEAKER_02]: So here it is. 36:47.755 --> 36:49.297 [SPEAKER_02]: It's like it's totally cute right. 36:49.698 --> 37:06.942 [SPEAKER_02]: So you've got all the little critters tucked in there and you know we've had this and we got it when my boys were about your daughter's age Robin and you know they're they're little stuff critters they're soft and and everything that can't hurt it which is nice because a lot of Christmas decorations really do touch this one you know have it. 37:07.423 --> 37:11.989 [SPEAKER_02]: So um and it's great because you know my boys are now pretends and they still fight over you know 37:11.969 --> 37:13.111 [SPEAKER_02]: Oh, good stuff. 37:13.131 --> 37:14.212 [SPEAKER_02]: Look, it's to put this sheet. 37:15.074 --> 37:16.115 [SPEAKER_02]: So it's great. 37:16.135 --> 37:17.978 [SPEAKER_02]: And like, oh, they're fighting over Jesus. 37:19.060 --> 37:23.747 [SPEAKER_02]: So we've got one of our traditions. 37:23.807 --> 37:26.371 [SPEAKER_02]: We do, you get to open one present Christmas Eve. 37:26.711 --> 37:27.853 [SPEAKER_02]: And it's Christmas pajamas. 37:27.913 --> 37:29.395 [SPEAKER_02]: No matter how much you have it. 37:29.415 --> 37:30.377 [SPEAKER_02]: I don't do that, do you? 37:30.397 --> 37:31.378 [SPEAKER_02]: So you might. 37:31.358 --> 37:32.680 [SPEAKER_02]: My parents do that. 37:32.781 --> 37:37.309 [SPEAKER_02]: My parents did that with us and we always try to tackle like, no, let's go for the big one. 37:37.329 --> 37:39.553 [SPEAKER_02]: Come on just one and they're like, okay, this one. 37:40.094 --> 37:44.763 [SPEAKER_02]: And it's always matching Christmas pajamas, you know, so. 37:45.364 --> 37:50.734 [SPEAKER_02]: And then for us, so we go to a big church and they have candlelight service. 37:50.714 --> 37:52.777 [SPEAKER_02]: Usually a few days leading up to Christmas Eve. 37:52.797 --> 37:55.200 [SPEAKER_02]: So we go on the 23rd to candlelight service. 37:55.561 --> 37:59.727 [SPEAKER_02]: And then we go over to Crovera and get meats and cheeses and that sort of thing. 37:59.747 --> 38:04.693 [SPEAKER_02]: And so Christmas Eve is just spent maybe going out and getting last minute things. 38:04.754 --> 38:05.995 [SPEAKER_02]: But we watch Christmas maybe. 38:06.055 --> 38:12.584 [SPEAKER_02]: And then we have this big platter on our in our living room that just has the cheeses and meats and fruits and hot chocolate. 38:12.625 --> 38:15.689 [SPEAKER_02]: And just fun snacky things so that you're not cooking on Christmas Eve. 38:16.049 --> 38:18.713 [SPEAKER_02]: You're just having 38:18.693 --> 38:20.957 [SPEAKER_02]: those are just some of our fun traditions. 38:20.997 --> 38:26.907 [SPEAKER_02]: And we all, I don't have them up yet, but if you see in the movie, Elf, you know how you put all the snowflakes. 38:27.388 --> 38:28.730 [SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, so we do that. 38:28.971 --> 38:36.263 [SPEAKER_02]: And it started years ago, when we were in Germany, my husband and I were newly married and you really wanted a white Christmas. 38:36.243 --> 38:42.276 [SPEAKER_02]: And it wasn't going to snow, so I happened to see in a magazine how to make these three dimensional circular snowflakes. 38:42.296 --> 38:48.408 [SPEAKER_02]: And so the week's leading up to Christmas, I would wait until he went to bed and I would stay up and make these snowflakes. 38:48.449 --> 38:51.535 [SPEAKER_02]: So Christmas Eve, uh, night, I snuck out and I, and I, and I just, 38:51.515 --> 39:03.539 [SPEAKER_02]: taped them all to the ceiling so then when he came out it was it was snowing for for Christmas and so we just built on to it So every year we add more snowflakes and our house ends up looking like elf that that one scene in L So we've got garland. 39:03.559 --> 39:05.082 [SPEAKER_02]: I mean it's ridiculous. 39:05.102 --> 39:13.759 [SPEAKER_02]: So it's just one of these fun things to wear at our house There it's always a white Christmas and so it's just kind of this fun thing even in Texas, you know, we get our waiting specs 39:13.739 --> 39:24.957 [SPEAKER_01]: That's what you got to read the books and resources, Amy, what do you have as far as like maybe books that you share with your kids or books that you recommend to other parents when we're talking about Christmas? 39:25.598 --> 39:30.045 [SPEAKER_02]: Okay, yeah, so I've got some books here that I absolutely love. 39:30.065 --> 39:34.352 [SPEAKER_02]: So if you're kind of a history buff like me, you'll love this one. 39:34.392 --> 39:36.556 [SPEAKER_02]: It's called a child's Christmas by Evelyn Sharp. 39:36.916 --> 39:41.063 [SPEAKER_02]: You have to look for it like on a books or eBay or something. 39:41.043 --> 39:46.688 [SPEAKER_02]: It's just a beautiful book written about how they celebrated Christmas in the Victorian air. 39:46.728 --> 39:59.180 [SPEAKER_02]: So a lot of the things that we talked about with the tradition of the Christmas tree, even you'll log plum pudding, it's just it's so fun and it's told by this really sweet about the sweet family and how they how they celebrate Christmas. 39:59.220 --> 40:02.623 [SPEAKER_02]: And it's fun just to see how they would do things. 40:02.723 --> 40:09.109 [SPEAKER_02]: Another great one is there's actually a free book series, This One's A Timeless Christmas and it got oh gosh. 40:09.241 --> 40:19.115 [SPEAKER_02]: There's a vintage Christmas and a classic Christmas, and it's, uh, authors like Luis and May Alcott, Ellen Montgomery, all of those old fashion is all these great Christmas stories. 40:19.396 --> 40:22.120 [SPEAKER_02]: And again, it's just, I love the Victorian era at Christmas time. 40:22.160 --> 40:23.342 [SPEAKER_02]: So it's fun to read those. 40:23.722 --> 40:28.229 [SPEAKER_02]: And if you've got little ones, there's two great movies I can recommend that really keep Christ central. 40:28.549 --> 40:30.292 [SPEAKER_02]: And the first one is the very first Noel. 40:30.612 --> 40:31.454 [SPEAKER_02]: It's so sweet. 40:31.534 --> 40:33.797 [SPEAKER_02]: It's narrated by 40:33.777 --> 40:52.900 [SPEAKER_02]: Andy Griffith and it's just this poem that follows the wise men as they're going to meet baby Jesus and you get to see everybody from the wise men to the little drummer boy and and I I get choked up watching it because it's I love the Christmas story and so that's a really sweet one that the kids love another great one is called. 40:52.880 --> 41:02.618 [SPEAKER_02]: I think it's called a very Bos Christmas or Bos Christmas Be Ozy, and it's a great Christ-centered movie about these these twins, and they have their big bear friend. 41:02.658 --> 41:05.703 [SPEAKER_02]: It's actually from the creators of Barney, but not quite so corny. 41:06.364 --> 41:11.614 [SPEAKER_02]: And they do all the fun traditions of Christmas 41:11.594 --> 41:16.580 [SPEAKER_02]: But of course, the most important thing in the biggest gift they give is the retelling of the Christmas story. 41:16.900 --> 41:24.650 [SPEAKER_02]: And it's just sweet and it acknowledges the fun traditions that many families have, but it makes sure that Christ is central, which, you know, it just loves. 41:24.670 --> 41:30.717 [SPEAKER_02]: So those are two great movies and a few books that will help your family, especially got little ones to really bring in the season. 41:31.998 --> 41:37.585 [SPEAKER_01]: And Robin, do you have any books that you've started to read to your kid or, 41:38.307 --> 41:39.469 [SPEAKER_01]: How are you going to do that? 41:39.630 --> 41:42.234 [SPEAKER_01]: Like what books do you think you'll you'll share? 41:42.936 --> 41:50.049 [SPEAKER_03]: Well, I guess it's so for the Christmas story as I said we have the advent book so I love that one because it can open open the door each day. 41:50.069 --> 41:56.822 [SPEAKER_03]: I she loves to read so I do have one of one of our favorites not this one is not 41:56.802 --> 42:15.655 [SPEAKER_03]: This is not not focused on the Christmas story, but it's just one of our favorites about the Christmas tree is Mr Willabee's Christmas tree and what's fun about it is it's it's written in in in right so it's it's versus that rhyme and so it starts out with this one large Christmas tree, but it's just a little bit too tall. 42:15.635 --> 42:33.255 [SPEAKER_03]: So it has to the top has to be chopped off and it goes it other animals end up taking in the tree and using the tree as their Christmas tree and then but it's always just a little bit tall and see I'll finally at the end a little mouse couple. 42:33.235 --> 42:37.504 [SPEAKER_03]: finds the tiniest tip of the Christmas tree and I won't spoil the end for you. 42:37.585 --> 42:38.988 [SPEAKER_03]: So it's a cute story. 42:39.008 --> 42:39.449 [SPEAKER_03]: It's sweet. 42:39.669 --> 42:40.932 [SPEAKER_03]: I enjoy the rhyming. 42:41.273 --> 42:48.188 [SPEAKER_03]: And I think what I like about it best is just that whether or not they realize that they're all connected by having a piece of the same tree. 42:48.990 --> 42:50.974 [SPEAKER_03]: It's just something fun and sweet. 42:50.954 --> 42:55.379 [SPEAKER_03]: But I think there are a couple others that I enjoy for when she's older, probably there's this series. 42:55.740 --> 43:05.412 [SPEAKER_03]: And I think you might have one of them, Lindsey, is like the legend of the Christmas tree, the legend of the St. Nicholas, the legend of the candy cane on here. 43:05.692 --> 43:08.335 [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, this is just some beautiful artwork in there. 43:08.395 --> 43:10.958 [SPEAKER_03]: So those are some I'm thinking about too. 43:11.019 --> 43:12.220 [SPEAKER_03]: I'm going to check them out. 43:12.503 --> 43:13.787 [SPEAKER_01]: That's actually a book. 43:13.907 --> 43:14.910 [SPEAKER_01]: I was going to recommend. 43:15.010 --> 43:25.720 [SPEAKER_01]: So, um, uh, one of the apologists that I follow on Twitter, uh, recommended this book as a way to explain St. Nicholas and who he is. 43:25.921 --> 43:26.462 [SPEAKER_01]: And it is. 43:26.847 --> 43:28.950 [SPEAKER_01]: Beautifully illustrated. 43:29.370 --> 43:32.114 [SPEAKER_01]: Like look at that gorgeous status. 43:32.495 --> 43:32.955 [SPEAKER_01]: Yes. 43:33.015 --> 43:38.102 [SPEAKER_01]: So we have started reading this one and I'm trying to look and see if there's another illustration. 43:38.463 --> 43:41.467 [SPEAKER_01]: We started reading this one to our kids this year. 43:41.487 --> 43:43.430 [SPEAKER_01]: Um, that's not a two hundred kim. 43:45.733 --> 43:56.247 [SPEAKER_01]: Oh, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, 43:56.513 --> 44:04.425 [SPEAKER_01]: Um, where the tradition of gift-giving came from, um, another one that I stumbled upon, uh, this morning actually in our library. 44:04.445 --> 44:05.227 [SPEAKER_01]: We have so many books. 44:05.267 --> 44:06.569 [SPEAKER_01]: Sometimes I don't even know what we have. 44:07.009 --> 44:09.634 [SPEAKER_01]: Um, this one is letters from Father Christmas. 44:09.894 --> 44:10.855 [SPEAKER_01]: It's by Tolkien. 44:11.557 --> 44:15.403 [SPEAKER_01]: Um, and I thought, yeah, it's also beautifully illustrated. 44:15.423 --> 44:20.010 [SPEAKER_01]: Um, let's see if I could find an example on how beautifully it looks. 44:20.130 --> 44:22.133 [SPEAKER_01]: So it's 44:22.602 --> 44:25.845 [SPEAKER_01]: It's got drawings and it's so cool. 44:26.085 --> 44:27.907 [SPEAKER_01]: And it's beautiful. 44:28.388 --> 44:32.331 [SPEAKER_01]: And it's just a collection of letters about Christmas. 44:32.672 --> 44:34.714 [SPEAKER_01]: And like it's like red and green. 44:35.114 --> 44:35.995 [SPEAKER_01]: Oh, gosh. 44:36.556 --> 44:39.559 [SPEAKER_01]: It's another great book that is just really pretty. 44:39.879 --> 44:41.460 [SPEAKER_01]: And I like pretty books. 44:41.841 --> 44:45.104 [SPEAKER_01]: But it helps really good content in it. 44:45.124 --> 44:47.827 [SPEAKER_01]: And then, finally, there's the first Christmas night. 44:48.587 --> 44:49.268 [SPEAKER_01]: And if you 44:49.585 --> 44:58.376 [SPEAKER_01]: It's a simple book out of scholastic that talks about what happened on the first Christmas night and even my seven year old can read it. 44:58.496 --> 45:03.802 [SPEAKER_01]: It's really language to understand and it's also a pretty book. 45:03.883 --> 45:05.745 [SPEAKER_01]: It's cut really pretty drawings in it. 45:06.386 --> 45:18.040 [SPEAKER_01]: And I think for kids that's something that matters to them. 45:18.307 --> 45:26.234 [SPEAKER_01]: that we use, and I hear this, to prepare for this podcast and the Christmas guy was the case for Christmas by Lee Strobel. 45:27.115 --> 45:29.758 [SPEAKER_01]: You can get this, I think it's like three bucks on Amazon. 45:30.298 --> 45:45.512 [SPEAKER_01]: So it's an inexpensive purchase, and he actually talks about why the Bible is reliable and the retelling of what happened, not only on Christmas night, but Jesus' life in general. 45:45.796 --> 45:54.308 [SPEAKER_01]: And so if you're looking for a simple book with the historicity of Jesus Christ, this is a hundred pages that will get you there. 45:54.989 --> 45:57.152 [SPEAKER_01]: And so I highly recommend this one. 45:57.432 --> 46:04.062 [SPEAKER_01]: We have multiple copies on our bookshelf so that we can just hand them out as people need them. 46:05.103 --> 46:11.873 [SPEAKER_01]: But again, I want to thank Robin and Amy for joining me and I'm joining them. 46:11.993 --> 46:14.757 [SPEAKER_01]: So we're all together talking about Christmas, 46:15.142 --> 46:25.374 [SPEAKER_01]: And we want to encourage you all during this holiday season to not forget why we're celebrating and who we're celebrating. 46:25.814 --> 46:31.401 [SPEAKER_01]: And find ways to put Christ at the center of your celebrations, whatever they may be. 46:31.421 --> 46:38.369 [SPEAKER_01]: One of the ways that we want to help you is this guide, this Christmas guide, it is live on our website. 46:38.449 --> 46:40.491 [SPEAKER_01]: So if you haven't already downloaded it, 46:40.589 --> 46:42.132 [SPEAKER_01]: Please go download it. 46:42.152 --> 46:48.303 [SPEAKER_01]: It's a free download and it'll contain even more information than what we talked about today. 46:48.343 --> 46:50.668 [SPEAKER_01]: It's got information about the Magi. 46:51.068 --> 46:51.950 [SPEAKER_01]: How many were there? 46:51.970 --> 46:52.792 [SPEAKER_01]: Who were they? 46:53.272 --> 46:55.497 [SPEAKER_01]: And what they brought is gifts. 46:56.178 --> 47:02.009 [SPEAKER_01]: It's got details about the Virgin birth and why it matters that Mary was a Virgin. 47:02.690 --> 47:04.453 [SPEAKER_01]: So there's more details in there. 47:04.636 --> 47:07.840 [SPEAKER_01]: And there's some tips about keeping Christ at the center as well. 47:07.880 --> 47:16.171 [SPEAKER_01]: So if you're looking for practical tips and ways to do that in your family to start a new tradition, we've got some ideas in that guide. 47:17.273 --> 47:22.640 [SPEAKER_01]: But finally, I know that you're watching this, which means you're probably on our YouTube channel. 47:23.060 --> 47:23.621 [SPEAKER_01]: Welcome! 47:24.302 --> 47:34.255 [SPEAKER_01]: We do have a YouTube channel, and we have started to add more video content, 47:34.471 --> 47:35.373 [SPEAKER_01]: How many are we at Rubin? 47:35.393 --> 47:37.958 [SPEAKER_01]: I think we're at like 1,600 subscribers right now. 47:38.138 --> 47:38.879 [SPEAKER_01]: I'm not kidding. 47:39.180 --> 47:45.892 [SPEAKER_01]: We're up to being steadily and we just keep throwing out contents and you all keep engaging with us. 47:45.973 --> 47:50.641 [SPEAKER_01]: So if you haven't subscribed to our YouTube channel, I encourage you to click subscribe below. 47:50.661 --> 47:52.665 [SPEAKER_01]: And if you liked this video, 47:52.645 --> 47:55.369 [SPEAKER_01]: Please like it and share it with your friends. 47:56.210 --> 48:00.797 [SPEAKER_01]: We would love to be able to create more meaningful YouTube content as well. 48:01.158 --> 48:10.993 [SPEAKER_01]: So if you've got an idea about other things that we can talk about on our vlog or on our podcast, please go ahead and share us your ideas in the comments. 48:11.634 --> 48:17.623 [SPEAKER_01]: But I think that about wraps up this podcast any closing thoughts or are we good? 48:18.245 --> 48:20.068 [SPEAKER_02]: for a good Merry Christmas y'all. 48:20.628 --> 48:22.110 [SPEAKER_01]: Merry Christmas, everyone. 48:22.130 --> 48:28.640 [SPEAKER_01]: We hope that you have a blessed season, full of love and peace and joy. 48:28.680 --> 48:30.542 [SPEAKER_01]: Merry Christmas. 48:30.562 --> 48:31.183 [SPEAKER_02]: Merry Christmas. 48:33.066 --> 48:45.383 [SPEAKER_02]: If you've enjoyed this podcast hop over to momavareapologetics.com where you can get more links to podcasts, blogs, and even a request to speaker for your next women's event, family retreat, or your next church conference. 48:45.667 --> 48:56.925 [SPEAKER_00]: Mom of their apologetics is a listener-supported program, so if you really like what we're doing, please go over to our website www.momofareapologetics.com and click donate.