Comments on: Christmas Month – Let’s hear some ideas.

By: Elizabeth

Elizabeth — Mon, 08 Dec 2008 23:51:00 +0000

“Jesus is the reason for the season.”

Christian radio stations playing secular songs (including, but not limited to “Rudolph the Rednosed Reindeer”) I assume in an attempt to “hook” people in and then keep them listening in order to play God-glorifying songs.

By: Stretch Mark Mama

Stretch Mark Mama — Sun, 07 Dec 2008 22:47:00 +0000

The singing Christmas tree - OH HELP US ALL.

"Mary Did You Know" and THE special music song of the month.

Amy Grant's "tennessee christmas" album. A CLASSIC.

Handbells.

By: Stretch Mark Mama

Stretch Mark Mama — Sun, 07 Dec 2008 22:44:00 +0000

Also. Christmas pageants. (referring to the olden days, not currently. though i may be wrong about that.)

Angels with clothes-hanger wings, shepherds with bathrobes.

My best memory was the year my Dad was in charge of the pageant, and being the "techy" forward-thinking guy that he was -- cut a star shape out of black paper and laid that down on an overhead projector to make The Star. I MEAN, IS THAT COOL OR WHAT?

By: Stretch Mark Mama

Stretch Mark Mama — Sun, 07 Dec 2008 22:42:00 +0000

Hubs and I always talk about how our small country churches used to “go caroling.” Complete with scorching hot (yet watered down) hot chocolate (from a homemade mix!) and cookies back at the church. We’d only go to old folks’ homes, and then have to stand 5 minutes at the door waiting for them to answer. Then we’d squish 20 people in a small, WARM, ummm stinky (sorry! it’s true!) living room — only to annoy them with songs.

Of course there are always teens in the back who are changing the words to the songs. And getting the evil eye from their moms.

By: mya-in-ab

mya-in-ab — Sun, 07 Dec 2008 06:31:00 +0000

Ha, these are fun ideas to read for me coming out of our church’s big Christmas production! Definitely we need some debate on how easy it can be to forget why we’ve been slaving away since September- not just about having an awesome time or fulfilling that need to get up and act out in front of a big crowd, but to put on a performance that has a message of hope and love for people to hear at this time of year.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Sat, 06 Dec 2008 20:30:00 +0000

Ok, I don’t know if this has been discussed yet, but Christmas cookies of the sweet baby Jesus. As I was making christmas cookies last night, I noticed the manager scene in cookie cutters and had a debate. If I make baby Jesus as a cookie, will people eat them? Is that sacriligious? Or communion?When I eat a gingerbread man cookie, I like to eat the limbs first but could I dismember the Soveriegn Lord that is a cookie? Why did someone give me this cookie set? Because I am a Pastor’s wife, Does that mean I can’t make Santa cookies and have to make Mary, Joseph and the baby Jesus cookies? Oh boy too many questions.

By: Erin K.

Erin K. — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 15:28:00 +0000

I don’t know if this is an idea or not, but it is funny. A few years ago, my husband and I were teaching the kindergarten Sunday school class during December. One little girl “outed” Santa, and I thought we were going to have a five-year-old mob scene. We had asked them a question about what Christmas means to them, and a girl mentioned Santa, which is when the other little girl said, “MY MOM AND DAD SAID THERE IS NO SANTA!” The first girl said, “YES THERE IS!!” and a war of “unh-uh’s” and “yuh-huh’s” erupted from there.

The whole situation was hilarious, but it was also quite a dilemma – how is a Sunday school teacher supposed to handle a situation like that?? Thankfully, my husband, who is very good at thinking on his feet, somehow got things under control and steered the conversation back to something manageable without having to address whether or not Santa is real.

By: Emily

Emily — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 08:37:00 +0000

I love Christmas music, but the songs with only children singing… that’s a little much for me. I wouldn’t normally listen to a “Bob the Builder” CD or a children’s choir’s “Best of Barney” or a station that only played little voices singing “Row, Row, Row Your Boat” all day. What makes Christmas season an exception? The month of December (though magical, I’m sure) cannot suddenly revolutionize music tastes. I’m sure everyone loves children just as much as the next person, but you don’t need to make them your new “holiday-themed” cell phone ring just to prove it to the world. We believe you.

By: Richard

Richard — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 05:17:00 +0000

Well, don't know how you would incorporate this into your posts, but what about the churches that are built with Christmas and Easter in mind?

I played guitar for a pentecostal church of about 500 people, which met in a geodesic dome structure and was therefore called "The Dome" in our small town. It was built with three long steel contraptions connected to the ceiling, coming from the center and from both sides, with small balconies on the sides.

These contraptions were made specifically for angels to fly during our Christmas and Easter dramas.

We dressed girls from 6-20 years of age like angels, strapped them to the ceiling on carabeaners from this contraption, and had one or two men use the ropes and pulleys to bring them back and forth with a practiced (yes, there was angel practice) graceful movement.

If that isn't a triumph of the Christmas spirit, I don't know what is.

By: Dustin

Dustin — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 04:50:00 +0000

Live animals in a nativity scene, sans poop. We love that stuff. We love feeling like we were “really there” at the nativity, except Mary isn’t a teenager, the room doesn’t smell like month-old excrement, and the choirs of angels definitely sounded better than the tone-deaf choir.