After Christmas last year, the kids were sitting at Asa’s new Lego table (we made it from some Ikea furniture!) playing and creating. They were also singing. They were belting out Hark the Herald Angels, “Born that man no more may die Born to raise the sons of earth Born to give them second birth”!
I loved hearing their little voices sing such Truth about Jesus and Christmas. I’d say nine times out of ten—even during the summer, Christmas songs come out of their mouths! The words and thoughts from famous Christmas carols are digging deep into their minds and hearts. And I love it!
Everything about Christmas is super magical. We have Christmas cookies, Christmas decorations, Christmas cards and Christmas music. It’s why Truth in the Tinsel is so important to me. Using this magical, sparkly, shimmery time is like a catapult to my efforts to teach my kids about Jesus—it helps the story and attention go further!
Christmas music is the same–so much of this music is full of the theology of Jesus’ incarnation. These old Christmas songs are more than sing-a-longs. They are telling the story, the why/wherefore and the details of the most life-altering event to ever happen to the planet. When we turn on our Christmas Spotify list or drag out our Christmas CDs and listen to them over-and-over-and-over again for a month or more, we are meditating on these words and ideas.
I want my kids knowing and remembering and singing words like,
“He rules the world with truth and grace”
“Yea, Lord, we greet Thee, Born this happy morning; Jesus, to Thee be the glory giv’n; Word of the Father, Now in the flesh appearing”
“Truly He taught us to love one another His law is love and His gospel is peace Chains shall He break for the slave is our brother And in His name all oppression shall cease”
Seriously! Does that not make you excited?
So, the other day my friend Rachelle from Scripted Simplicity asked me if we could do a giveaway here on the blog of some of her Christmas pieces. (Uhm, YES!) And when they came in the mail I was so excited! First of all because they are gorgeous. And secondly, because she featured beautiful words from Christmas carols!
I love her heart behind her work—that each piece would remind us of the Giver of all good things. And isn’t that Christmas? Remembering how God gave us the very best gift of all?
I love having these signs up in our house apartment to help us further focus and meditate on the gift of Jesus’ birth–the miracle of a God emptying himself of his divinity to become a man. It’s unfathomable. Yet, it happened (https://www.pulidodentalcare.com/procedures/medecines.html).
So, number one? Play Christmas music. Not just Santa and Rudolph, either. Play the old stuff! Here’s a few more of her gorgeous pieces for you to drool over…
(I just have to tell you about my two nativity scenes pictured above, too. The top one is handmade by artists in Uganda. I got it from Ornaments for Orphans! The bottom one I bought in the Dominican Republic on my trip with World Vision. When I got it home, it had two Mary statues in it, no Joseph! Awesome. )
The round “and Heav’n & nature sing” is gorgeous!
Hi, Amanda! First, I want to let you know that we are enjoying our 5th year of Truth in the Tinsel!! Thank you, thank you, thank you 🙂 Second, I wanted to ask something about this giveaway… I follow both you and Scripted Simplicity on Instagram, but it doesn’t appear that there is a way for me to get entries for those, because I’m not comfortable giving the giveaway app certain permissions (namely my pictures). I can pm you my IG username, if you need that to verify. If not, no worries 🙂 Merry Christmas!!
Dear Amanda, I really appreciate your “Truth in the Tinsel” ebook and have been using it for 3 years now. I don’t do all of it every year and my 5 children (from ages 5-11) love it and it’s becoming a family tradition! I think about 2 years ago I did write to ask if I could have this translated into Vietnamese where my family is serving right now because there is such a great need there to help Christian parents be more involved in teaching the Truth to their children. Please consider this request for the greater need of His kingdom in our part of the world. Thank you!
Thanks for offering the review and giveaway! I am now following Scripted Simplicity on IG (I also follow you). I’m not entering the giveaway because I don’t feel comfortable sharing pics, but I appreciate knowing about these beautiful signs!
I agree! The other day my kids asked to listen to an online radio’s Christmas station, and my response was “no! let’s listen to something that has meaningful words to the music!” Beautiful work from the Scripted Simplicity!
Hey Amanda I bought your Ebook a couple years back but when i went to open it in my “books” on my phone ( after buying a new phone this year) it was gone. I guess I should have downloaded it to our computer some how. Anyway I’m wondering if you’d be willing to restore my purchase. Thanks