The Meaning of Christmas

Every other Tuesday, I bundle up the kids and drag them to Story City for a program called MOPS. MOPS stands for Mothers Of Preschoolers and is a gathering of moms who have children who are not yet in school (in case you didn't guess from the title:). Most larger cities have a MOPS group, including Ames. I don't go to the Ames group because it is once a month during the evening, and there is no childcare provided. What's the point, right? If I am going to invest time into something, it is going to be something that gets the kids and I out of the house during the day. More than anything else, I am going to this group to drop my children off in their daycare center for two hours. The kids get to play, eat a snack, and learn a lesson about God. It really is a great program for the kids. Judah made an ornament today:We officially have one ornament on our tree...yes, we have a tree. The Owens Family has never braved a tree before. When Judah was one, we went to a friend's house where Judah pulled an ornament off of their tree and took a bite. The ornament shattered inside his mouth and cut him to pieces. I have since been too scared to put up our own tree. This avoidance approach has worked well for us up until yesterday. I guess four is the magic age when kids start to realize that we are the only ones not doing something. Judah has been very interested as of late in decorating any and everything, so he was jazzed when I got our tiny hand-me-down tree and said we could decorate it. Don't get me wrong, I am still playing it safe. Our tree is up off the ground, on top of our blanket chest. It is decorated by garland and beads...and now one ornament. Merry Christmas.

Back to MOPS...

Judah moved up to the four to five year old room last time and was not pumped about it. He is at least a foot shorter than every one in the class, which I am sure is intimidating, and he had to leave his bff, Zoe, behind in the three year old room. Today when I dropped him off, I was a bit worried that he would remember how miserable he was last time. We walked in to find them all playing with play-doh, and some kid says, "Hey, look! It's Judah! Hey, Judah, remember how you don't like us??" Come on, kid! Luckily it didn't phase him because there was play-doh to be manipulated.

I still haven't gotten to my favorite part of the experience. I walked into his classroom at the end of the session, and his teacher said, "Judah, tell your mama what God wants for Christmas." Judah responded, very enthusiastically, "A MIRROR!"
I was a bit confused and looked at his teacher for an explanation. Her look told me that she was surprised by his answer. "Judah, what was in the mirror?"
He thought about it. "Me?" Then he gained a little confidence. "Me, Mama! God wants me for Christmas!"
On the way home, I told Judah to let Mayah and Liam know that God wants them for Christmas.
"No, Mama. He just wants us for Christmas...my classroom."

I think the meaning of Christmas may have gone right over Judah's head.