A Nephite Christmas!

Our ward's Christmas Social was a Nephite Christmas. The kids all got to dress up like Lamanites/Nephites and for us Karcherites. It was alot of fun! I'm so glad we didn't have a Santa there! If you ask my kids if they believe in Santa they will say "No, we don't believe in Santa. We believe in Christ." (hopefully that's what they will say, I've been stressing this alot the last couple of years)I feel very strongly that Santa is "an incorrect tradition handed down from generation to generation" They talk alot about incorrect traditions in the scriptures. I too use to celebrate the birth of our Savior with Santa. But in recent years I have had some experiences that made me really ponder about where Santa fits in. I have always told the kids that I would never lie to them. Well when Ariana was 5 she asked me "Mom Is Santa really real? I want the real truth." I paused not sure if I should keep up the ruse or if I should tell her. I could see that she was in earnest so I said "No he's not real" She immediately started yelling and crying " you Lied! You said you would never Lie!" That was the first time I really paused and thought "What am I teaching my kids?" The next time came when a friend of another faith who doesn't respect religions other than her own made the comment when asked why she was celebrating Christmas when it wasn't part of her faith "Santa is no one's religion." Needles to say I stood there staring at her with my mouth agape and had to agree. And finally when I was pondering what to do about Santa I was reading the scriptures in one of the Nephi's I don't remember 1st 2nd third...? And it was talking about these incorrect traditions and it struck me so clearly that this was a incorrect tradition. Santa completely over shadows Christ. Is this a ploy by the adversary? I believe so. I've tried to figure out if I can have my cake and eat it too. That is can we have Santa and Christ in the same celebration? And the conclusion I have come to is NO we can't. It's confusing for the kids. Some have tried to make me feel bad about giving up Santa. They say it will ruin Christmas for the children. I disagree. I as a mother feel much better about my children being excited about Christ's birth and exclaiming "I can't wait only ___ # of day's until Christ's Birth! I would much rather hear that then "I can't wait for Santa to come give me stuff!" I know I am opening a whole can of worms here and I'm going to hear all sorts of arguments against this train of thought. I can just see some reading this with the quiet shake of the head as they can't believe I would dare cut Santa out of Christmas... but truth is where is Santa in CHRISTmas?. I'm still working the bugs out of the way in which we will celebrate Christmas. Where to draw the line so to say. But.... I'm hopeful. I think we can make this work. Eradicating Santa from our home completely will take time. But I'm on the right path.

WHY GOD MADE MOMS

Answers given by 2nd grade school children to the
following questions:

Why did God make mothers?
1. She's the only one who knows where the scotch tape is.
2. Mostly to clean the house.
3. To help us out of there when we were getting born.



How did God make mothers?
1. He used dirt, just like for the rest of us.
2. Magic plus super powers and a lot of stirring.
3. God made my Mom just the same like he made me. He just
used bigger parts



What ingredients are mothers made of ?
1. God makes mothers out of clouds and angel hair and
everything nice in the world and one dab of mean.
2. They had to get their start from men 's bones. Then
they mostly use string, I think.



Why did God give you your mother and not some other Mom?
1. We're related.
2. God knew she likes me a lot more than other people's
moms like me.



What kind of little girl was your Mom?
1. My Mom has always been my Mom and none of that other
stuff.
2. I don't know because I wasn't there, but my guess
would be pretty bossy.
3. They say she used to be nice.



What did Mom need to know about dad before she married
him?
1. His last name.
2. She had to know his background. Like is he a crook?
Does he get drunk on beer?
3. Does he make at least $800 a year? Did he say NO to
drugs and YES to chores?



Why did your Mom marry your dad?
1. My dad makes the best spaghetti in the world. And my
Mom eats a lot.
2. She got too old to do anything else with him.
3. My grandma says that Mom didn't have her thinking cap
on.



Who's the boss at your house?
1. Mom doesn't want to be boss, but she has to because
dad's such a goof ball.
2. Mom. You can tell by room inspection. She sees the
stuff under the bed.
3. I guess Mom is, but only because she has a lot more to
do than dad.



What's the difference between moms &dads?
1. Moms work at work and work at home and dads just go to
work at work.
2. Moms know how to talk to teachers without scaring
them.
3. Dads are taller &stronger, but moms have all the real
power 'cause that's who you got to ask if you want to
sleep over at your friend's.
4. Moms have magic; they make you f eel better without
medicine.



What does your Mom do in her spare time?
1. Mothers don't do spare time.
2. To hear her tell it, she pays bills all day long.



What would it take to make your Mom perfect?
1. On the inside she's already perfect. Outside, I think
some kind of plastic surgery.
2. Dye it. You know her hair. I'd dye it, maybe blue.

If you could change one thing about your Mom, what would
it be?
1. She has this weird thing about me keeping my room
clean. I'd get rid of that.
2. I'd make my Mom smarter. Then she would know it was my
sister who did it and not me.
3. I would like for her to get rid of those invisible
eyes on the back of her head.