Brother Francis Blog — Christmas Gifts

By Anne Metz

Teaching CCD for the past few years, I’ve encountered more than a few young children who had no idea that Christmas is Jesus’ birthday. It’s easy to see how this can happen. So much of what they are exposed to focuses on just the secular aspects of Christmas: the presents, the tree, the movies, commercials, and Elf on the Shelf, just to name a few.

If that is all they are seeing and hearing about Christmas, of course that will be their understanding of it. None of those things are inherently bad, but they don’t teach kids that Jesus is the reason for the season. So it’s up to us as parents to make that clear to them.

The good news is, this is not as difficult as you may think. In fact, you can keep on doing what you normally do for Christmas while highlighting Jesus’ birth. Here’s how:

By Anne Metz

Advent in the Catholic Church is a beautiful season of hopeful anticipation. But, it can be hard to teach our children that when the world around them seems to be celebrating Christmas before it even gets here! We’ve compiled a list of simple activities you can do as a family to teach your children the true meaning of Advent.

By Lindsay Schlegel

It goes without saying that this year has been different (and weirder) than any most of us have experienced. As my kids’ school suddenly transitioned from in-person to virtual, one thing that has helped me stay hopeful is spending some time carefully selecting Christmas gifts for them.