The Nevels Family: Christmas

We had a wonderful Christmas this year! It was especially fun now that Nathan is a little older. He knew just what to do with the presents, which is remarkable since the last time he opened one was for his birthday in May. Anyway, he enjoyed ripping off the paper with great gusto! He also liked passing out the gifts at my parents house. He would walk over to the tree, pick out a present, then take it to whomever we told him to deliver it. Of course, Nathan received many fun toys and thoroughly enjoyed helping with the assembly of each of them. He didn't really care about playing with the boxes (which is unusual, since most kids his age prefer the box over the toy).

We started a new tradition this year, and it was my favorite part of the holiday! We bought Nathan a Little People nativity set, which is like a regular nativity except it is plastic and made for little ones (so it's not breakable and not a choke hazard!) Every night before we took Nathan to bed, he sat in my lap and I read him a children's book that tells the story of the birth of Jesus. As I read, I used the characters in the nativity to act out the story. Nathan loved it! Usually, he requested to do the story a second time at night and also at various times during the day. After a few days, he could point out the characters when I said their names (Baby Jesus, Mary, Joseph, angel, sheperds, etc. ); and using the characters, he would re-enact the story on his own. We all enjoyed this tradition and it seemed like the perfect way to tell Nathan about the true meaning of Christmas. I pray he will undertand it more and more each year and will come to know Christ personally at a young age.