Just Three Things by Scott Dunn

We are what I would consider your average Christian household when it comes to most aspects of Christmas. We decorate; my wife does a fabulous job of decorating inside; I handle the outside. Her work is featured on the cover and on the inside of the cover in this magazine in this issue!

We also buy gifts, we wrap gifts, and we give gifts. Here is the potential hang-up; we allow our kids to believe there is a Santa Claus. That may rub some folks the wrong way, but Santa is a minimal component that is not crucial to what our kids believe Christmas is about. You can ask them; their response will be, “the Birth of Jesus.”

Yes, right now, they believe that some white-bearded man will come down the chimney and bring them gifts, but that magic is close to disappearing for our children because of their age. I am not excusing their belief, our allowance of their belief, nor am I relegating our savior to the back seat. This is one of those times in life where you can have your cake and eat it too. Something we should do sparingly and with the sobriety of why we are okay with it.

I was raised that Christmas was for the birth of Christ. Gifts and Santa are a mutually exclusive thing and are just a way to show we love each other. Commercialization of holidays can certainly pull people away from the actual meaning of Christmas, but I grew up poor, so that was not a huge factor. My kids are in a very different position. We are solidly a middle-class family, and they have access to many things I did not, including the breadth and depth of technology we have today.

Right before, and the point of inspiration for this article was my son, Elijah. He is what I’d call a typical boy. Loud, adventurous, and a bull in a China shop who would rather do everything else in life aside from schoolwork. While cooking them lunch, I asked if he had written his Christmas gift wish list. He had, about ten times, but this final list goes into a tiny mailbox on the tree that Santa reads before leaving his gifts. So, he began working on his list, and to give an example; he had an Xbox, an expensive pair of yellow Nikes, 5-$100 Fortnite gift cards… and a laundry list of other things. It’s clear he has no clue about monetary values yet, and that is okay; he is eight.

So, while I was finishing up their lunch (buttered noodles… yum!), I said, “Eli, that is a lot of stuff. Isn’t it?” His response was in the affirmative, and I asked him, “What is Christmas about?” He responded, “Jesus being born.” I let that sink in a few seconds and said, “You know, I have a great idea. We know that Christmas is about Jesus’ birth, and he only had three presents, right? Gold, frankincense, and myrrh. What if we only thought about three things we wanted and wrote those down, and that was all we asked for?” He considered it for a moment and balled up his extensive list so he could write down just three things.

That is something I would encourage others to do with their kids. In this one author’s opinion, Santa is okay; he is fun and jolly! Keep your kids focused on just three things and tie it into why that number is important to Jesus’ birth and Christianity as a whole. One great example is the number of gifts received by the baby Jesus. Another is our belief that our God is triune and comprises the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Noah had three sons. Jesus denied Satan three times.

The list goes on, but these are great teaching moments. I try to look at all the interactions I have with our kids as a chance to ask myself, “How can I put God into that situation?” Sometimes I can do it well; other times, I consider it, but I am really stretching to sneak a lesson in. Such as, I have not found a way to weave God into nose-picking and may never accomplish that.

In retrospect, I wish I had enough sense to read about or come up with the “Just Three Things” lesson sooner. I am sure others have done that. I do not consider it a great epiphany, but it is important in how we approach Christmas with our children.

My stance is unchanged; Christ is in Christmas. It exists because of Him. No commercialization can change that. What can change it is our lack of effort to keep focused on why Christmas exists. Now that the kids are older, I want to take them to retirement communities or places with seniors, or programs where families who struggle can experience a little joy in gifts while also hearing about the true purpose of Christmas. Once the COVID-19 pandemic ends, and it will, that is where you will find us every year, loving people and centered on Christ.

If we are not centered on Christ, our children will not be. That is when Christmas has become devalued. So that’s my goal with our kids for Christmas, to show them and, in the future, other people, just three things about Christmas and its purpose. Faith in Christ, Hope in His work, and to love the way He did.

Merry Christmas, my beloved friends.

Scott Dunn is a Christian husband and father who has spent over 15 years in the telecommunications industry. He is the founder of Talking with God (https://twgpodcast.com), a podcast that seeks to educate and encourage a closer relationship with God. Scott is a northerner who migrated south and has fully acclimated to the wonderful area known as the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains. He serves at his local church by helping with the production and online streaming of services. He has a genuine passion for the Christian man and his responsibilities, often writing about them on his blog https://justholdfast.com. Here he shares open and real-life experiences so that other men can relate to the human condition and how that relates to a stronger love relationship with God.