Making Room for Him

This morning, as I was drinking my coffee, Will was studying the Christmas tree. Just before he left for school, he commented, "Mama, you keep praying that we will all remember that Christmas is about Jesus. I know it is when we celebrate His birthday, but I don't understand why we don't have Jesus ornaments for our tree." I got up and looked over the tree. Though I knew I could explain that we choose an evergreen tree to symbolize that He is ever-living, and that the red ribbons (that didn't get put on this year because the kids hung ornaments before I got the ribbon out) symbolize the blood He shed for us, and that the lights symbolize that He is the light of our world, I saw it through the kids' eyes, and sure enough, we didn't have any Jesus ornaments.

About an hour later, I had rewarmed my coffee and sat down to read my Advent book, and the author pointed out that we often are like the inn-keeper telling Jesus and His family we have no room. No room in our hearts. No room in our lives. No room on our tree for HIM. Rather than beating myself up over this, I bundled up the little kids and we headed to Hobby Lobby on a mission to get materials to make Jesus ornaments. I wanted my kids to know Jesus is the reason we have Christmas and hope and joy, and if making kid-safe ornaments was a good way to do it, I was going to get it done.

I spent the day arranging and melting little beads. At the end of the day, I had almost enough ornaments to make them the little gifts and lessons in the Advent calendar for next year. I am anxious to write down all the reasons these ornaments are about Jesus, match them with scriptures, and teach the kids about them each year.

I've only ever seen the Chrismon shapes done in white with gold and silver accents. I was limited in how many white beads came in the set, and I figured that the bright colors would capture the kids' attention a bit more. If you aren't familiar with some of the shapes, I've included a cross (which symbolizes the Crucifixion), a chalice/cup (symbolizing Communion and forgiveness), a crown (royal power and authority for King of Kings), an alpha and omega (He has come and will come again, He is the beginning and the end), a peace dove (peace), a Jerusalem cross (Christ and the four gospels), a butterfly (transformation), a five-pointed star (five wounds of Christ), a Star of David (points represent six aspects of God: love, mercy, wisdom, majesty, power and justice, and two triangles represent the Trinity). Some of the shapes were easier for the kids to understand (without a lesson) such as the baby Jesus, Shepherd Jesus, lamb of God, lamp and heart. A couple will take a quick Greek lesson to understand: the pink and purple chi and rho (the first two letters of Christ in Greek), the PAX (Latin for peace), and ixthus/fish (a Greek acrostic for Jesus Christ, God's son, Savior).

A few didn't work out quite like I planned and I'll need to re-do them. Since I took the picture, I've added a few more, too. Once we got them on the tree I realized that this was the perfect project to get my heart ready for Christmas, too!