Topic: good quality Christmas videos and books for kids

[kmm]

I have been so caught up lately in surviving in my job (which I am really resenting right now) that rearing my children properly has been neglected somewhat (ah the irony - I am required to solve all the problems of my students, academic and otherwise - and actually their parents too sometimes when their marriages on the rocks, to the point that I've nothing left for mine. Arrgghh!!!).  I just realized that we haven't done anything in terms of preparing for Christmas (I admit I've never been much for celebrating anything - I find Christmas especially stressful - long boring stories I won't get into, but also I am absolutely SLAMMED at work). And yes I know we should be fasting, but the work survival thing has distracted me from doing this properly, although when I try, my mother-in-law, a well-meaning non Christian who is staying with us for a few months, sabotages any fasting attempts I make by making something else over and above what I've made with meat because she is absolutely insistent that my husband, being a man and all, must eat meat 2-3 meals per day. My husband is also too much into survival mode to take issue with it.

Anyway, tangent aside, my eldest son is  over 3 1/2 years and really getting into secularr Christmas this year. The secular version (it is an extremely multi-cultural/religion school and the directress is Jewish) is talked about a lot at his preschool. He's very excited about Santa and presents and all. That's okay, but I am very dismayed that I have not done a better job of getting the actual point of Christmas across to him. I need recommendations for materials to help me with this (I do have a children's bible I read to him); I'm thinking really great videos/DVD's (the kind that really has an impact) and books.

Suggestions please!!!!

Many thanks, and as an aside, please pray for me to get it together (including a better job situation...I'm stuck where I am until the end of June, but am trying to figure something else out) in the parenting realm.

kmm
 

[Myrrh23]

Hey kmm!

Instead of Santa, you could tell your son about St. Nicholas, who is revered by Catholics and Orthodox Christians: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Nicholas

Have you ever had lentils? They have more protein than animal meat and you can make all kinds of tasty dishes with them, although they really bring on the farts if your body isn't used to them. My father likes to tell me that 800 million people in the world get their protein from lentils!

I'll pray for you!

[Justin Kissel]

We (and our priest) like the "Little Golden Book" series. So far for this Christmas we've bought The Story of Jesus and The Christmas Story (to add to the half dozen we already owned). I don't know about your area, but right now our local Walmart has them on sale for $2.50 a piece.

[kmm]

Thanks for the ideas!

Actually, I do like lentils. Not sure I'l convince my mother-in-law though. She's from the Russian Far East. Doesn't speak a word of English (and my Russian is almost non-existent). Also, the whole concept of vegetables, beyond tomatoes, cucumber, and a smattering grated carrot in anything other than the 2 months of summer (and of course anything pickled all year), is totally alien to her (although I realize that lentils are not exactly vegetables, they would fall into the same category for her). This is part of the reason I do most of the cooking still with her currently here, but also because she is 70 and having had a tough life, taking care of my little guys, even a few hours in the day, completely poops her out. So actually I feel rather guilty when she goes and cooks something extra in order to satiate my hubby.

I did try to tell my eldest about St. Nicholas, but he wasn't interested. I'll have to retell it in story version (he's currently sitting quite happily through the novella version of "Peter Pan", so I'm sure he can sit through that).

Looks like I'll have to purchase those golden books online. I went to 4 different stores yesterday and could not find them. I did finally find 2 books at one book store (the last store I visited) that actually had something to do with Jesus, amongst a zillion other "Christmas" books. And I had to ask the staff - only one of them was relatively easy to find). It was absolutely shocking. 2 Christmas books only that mention Jesus!!!!! And forget about DVD's. Absolutely nothing for children that combine Jesus and Christmas. NOTHING. I'll guess I'll have to find a Christian bookstore (there was one about a 20 minute drive from me but it has since gone out of business - I think the next closest is about an hour away). 

The books I did get were quite nice though - This Is the Stable by Cynthia Cotten (it is a poem about the Christmas story that has lovely illustrations), and God Gave Us Christmas by Lisa Tawn Bergen, which deals with a mommy polar bear working to get across who really created Christmas and why to her daughter (who thinks Christmas is all about Santa and presents - i.e. my son, egged on by my atheistic/agnostic relatives and his peers etc.).

Sigh. TWO Christmas books out of a bunch that actually mention Jesus?!?!?

[kmm]

Oh yeah - I looked in a Walmart for those Golden Books - didn't have them here. Grumble grumble...

[EofK]

If you have time to get to one, check out Barnes and Noble or Borders for the Golden Books.  They tend to keep those in stock while Walmart typically only stocks things that sell fast.  Does your parish bookstore have any Christmas type things?

Conciliar Press has a book titled Twelve Great Feasts for Children: The Nativity of Our Lord and it looks pretty good. 

[kmm]

EofK - thanks for your suggestions too. Based on that I've done some searching and...

Apparently our equivalent of BArnes and Nobles does not in carry either of those Little Golden books. It does, however, appear to carry a somewhat broader selection of books about the Christmas story than the other stores I visited (again, only one of four had any such thing - and that one only had 2!), which I should hope for considering how big they are. Mind you, the Christian Christmas story books are still very much a significant minority. I'll have to find some time to get to one such story and really peruse the selection. Either way, an Orthodox publication would be good, and while I don't have time to do any online searching at the moment, my church is an old calendar one, so I've got some time yet 

Our church's selection of books is largely limited to Russian language ones. I'll have to get my husband to check it out when he's back from his current trip. He's away most of the time leading up to both Christmases of either calendar, but I'll get him to get organized on this yet.

[EofK]

Good deal, I hope that works out!  If not, I think Amazon will be able to ship anything to you in time. 

[Ebor]

The Vegetales "The Toy That Saved Christmas" is rather good I think.  It very clearly sets out about the birth of Jesus while taking greed to task in a good way.  The toy in question, btw, is "Buzz Saw Louie" a toy with a real functional buzz saw in it's right arm.

Ebor