St Nicolas' Day Pictures

Can the real Santa please stand up!

I’ll be straight with you. I love Christmas and I’m secretly still sad that Santa does not exist. I have fun memories of putting our biscuits and Bashew cooldrinks(yes, the african way) out for Father Christmas to refuel, after he had sneaked into our house and filled our pillow cases at the foot of our beds with all the presents he miraculously knew we wanted. Father Christmas had to get through the window because we had no chimney:) At least, that’s what my parents told me.

So here I am a couple of decades or so later, with two of my own little squirrels, Kristen and Jesse longing to re-invent this magical world of Father Christmas, his reindeer and the mass of presents he wants to leave them as he goes on his way, getting fatter and fatter as he eats all the biscuits and drinks all the Bashew drinks imaginable. But I know I owe them more than that.

So the point of this blog is to help us parents walk upstream during this season of crazy opulence, over-indulgence and myth around that pot-bellied, jolly old man called Father Christmas, on the eve of St Nicholas’ day, 6 December.

So here enters the real Santa.....St Nicholas. St Nicholas was born in a town called Myra, now known as Turkey in the Mediterranean. He was raised by his Christian family as he lost both his parents at a quite a young age. St Nicholas was driven by the christian values instilled in him at a young age and there are many testimonies of him living a life of servitude, generosity, mercy and justice. One such story and my favorite, is when he secretly placed gold coins through the window of a friends’ daughter who was to be sold into slavery because her father could not afford her dowry. Another story goes that he employed a wood carver to make wooden toys for poor children in his community, and another story goes that he generously fed the poor and clothed them. He eventually became a Bishop and his sainted remains now lie in the Port City of Bari in Italy, which strangely enough I have been to.

St Nicholas was a Jesus follower, a dedicated follower of the Light of the world and his life reflected it. A bit of a far cry from the Coke drinking jolly fellow we now know and love (I speak for myself on this point:)). Which brings me to the following point, the image of St Nicholas has evolved over centuries as different groupings and companies have added little touches here and there as a marketing gimmick. So to the Coca-Cola company’s credit, they are not the only ones guilty of tainting St Nicholas’s image.

So on 6 December this year, I will be celebrating the life of St Nicholas with my family and will attempt to use symbols of St Nicholas’ life, which I hope will help challenge our views of the silly season, and inculcate a message of generosity and not of getting stuff, a message of justice and not of adding to the greater divide between the rich and poor, and a message of mercy and not of being wrapped up in our own bubble as we see the poor all around us. So here are the symbols which will be incorporated into the meal. The aim is to keep the little “gifts” as simple as possible....after all we don’t want to perpetuate the cycle of “stuff” over this time:

• A Sock: represents the sock or shoe into which the gold coins fell when he paid for the young lady’s dowry;
• Chocolate Gold Coins: The money he left in the socks;
• Something Wooden: As a reminder of the gifts the Wood carver made for the poorer children. Maybe fun pencils or little wooden Christmas trimmings will do
• Cloth or clothing: represents the clothes he gave to the poor. In this case I’m thinking new ribbons for Kristen’s hair and a little bandana for Jesse
• Favorite food: This represents his generosity as he sought to feed the poor. I’m thinking of giving Jesse a few strawberries, and Kristen some sweet melon, their favorite fruit.
• Ginger Bread: Symbolises the bread St Nicolas made with exotic spices

So it doesn’t have to cost much. Usually some traditional Mediterranean food is enjoyed as the life of St Nicholas is reflected on.

So what on earth are we to do with Santa this season! For me I’m not ready to give it all up yet. I’ll continue to ask God to challenge me in my thinking and preparation as we await Jesus this advent season, wait for Him to transform our hearts and wait on the same Jesus who affected St Nicholas’ life so deeply. So may the Lord of Love, Generosity, Mercy and Justice walk upstream with us this Christmas season!

Please go to the following link to read a very comprehensive article about the Saint we love so much. I've used Scribd, a site one can upload pdf's for viewing on the net, as I was unable to attach a document to this blog. Hope it works. http://www.scribd.com/doc/74814156/StNicholasDay

I also found the following website really informative

http://www.stnicholascenter.org/pages/who-is-st-nicholas/

Watch this space for some pictures of our time together and examples of what we used during the evening. Love Mauri:)

Creating your own celebrations

Christmas Day and the season of Advent is full of tradition and rituals. The question is, is whose traditions are you following? The joyous thing about being a parent is that you have the authority and freedom to create your own Christmas rituals in your home for your children. It is not always a simple task to create traditions, it does take prayer, thought and some good chats with your spouse.

We all carry with us memories of Christmas from our childhood - some are good, some are hurtful, some inspire, and some keep us in boundage. Mostly these experiences are powerful and emotive. So it takes some careful sifting to work out what do we want to carry forward into our own families, and what do we want to leave behind. We need to recognise that the letting go of some traditions is not a simple task due to the emotional attachment we have with them. We may need pray through and process the "letting go" with a good friend.

Add to this we are in a society that, for some strange reason, goes crazy around Christmas with a startling amount of shopping, sales, decorations, Santa Claus, fir-trees, presents, eating, gatherings, chocolate advent calanders, tinsel and more. Ironically in the midst of this frenzied preparing and feasting, very little of Jesus is reflected. (I  recently tried to purchase a toy nativity set and found that most toy store assistants gave me a blank look, but went on to offer me a handful of Christmas related toys that had a whole lot to do with Santa but very little to do with Jesus). In creating our own celebration of Christmas we need to prayerfully decide what we want to include from our society's traditions, and how to explain to our children why we have chosen not to include the rest.

Shaping our own Christmas is not just about keeping what we like and discard the rest, it is also about creating something brand new. As we push into to understanding more of Jesus, more of His justice and love, we may find we are inspired to add to our Christmas season something that is so Holy Spirit inspired that we don't know of anyone else who is doing it. How exciting - so be open to the new things that may be birthed in your heart. I encourage you to share them with us moms as it will only add to the richness of our celebrations.

Jesus's said that His burden is not heavy and that His yoke is light - this provides us with a great promise to take hold of as we look to mould our family's Christmas celebrations. It does not have to feel like hard work. God wants to show us how.

One mom shared how she and her husband had been praying about their Christmas and had specifically asked God to show them What does God want Christmas to look like in their home? and the also sought God specifically on How they could redeem Christmas in their own lives and home? What an inspiring testimony of how God has been answering them with verses that give guidance, and by dropping inspiring ideas in their hearts and minds. God loves it when we are intentional about Him, and seek to live our lives in line with His best for us. When our hearts are yearning for His way, He does not delay in sharing His thoughts, ideas and strategies with us. And what a joy this is, because His way brings LIFE!

There is no ONE right way to do Christmas, no formula and no script. There is room for you to be Holy Spirit inspired, to use your talents and creative gifts to make this season LIFE giving for your family and to celebrate with your children the wondrous gift of God, Jesus.


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AND REMEMBER:
If you are on Facebook, make sure you join our Moms 4 Justice group where those of us who were at the meeting have committed ourselves to inspiring each other during the Advent Season. Each day one of us will post some reflective thoughts or verses that can help us all focus on the real meaning of Christmas, or inspire us to pursue social justice in this season of festivity, or something that we can say or do with our kids that will help them better understand Jesus and Christmas.


Follow this link to go to the facbook group of Moms4Justice

Christmas Time

There seems to be a need to do some hard work to walk upstream over the Christmas season, the tide of materialism flows strong, family expectations - some good, some bad - push in on us, and on top of that everyone makes plans for end of year parties. Sometimes it feels like you are caught in the turning and tumbling of a rapid or maybe even a waterfall. Our conversation this month focussed on Christmas, and how we can be intentional about Jesus, and about weaving into the glorious, and not so glorious, craziness of the silly season, the values of social justice - compassion, generosity and the like.

So watch this space as I share with you some of our thoughts in a series of blog posts over the next couple of days. May it strengthen you to find your feet in the river, and walk up the stream, pursing Kingdom values in your family over the month of December.

And if you are on Facebook, make sure you join our Moms 4 Justice group where those of us who were at the meeting have committed ourselves to inspiring each other during the Advent Season. Each day one of us will post some reflective thoughts or verses that can help us all focus on the real meaning of Christmas, or inspire us to pursue social justice in this season of festivity, or something that we can say or do with our kids that will help them better understand Jesus and Christmas.

Follow this link to go to the facbook group of Moms4Justice

Our everyday interactions

It is good to catch a breath, and think back on how you have been travelling along the journey that you are on. That is what we did in our last Moms 4 Justice gathering. No agenda. Just time to reflect on how we were doing as moms grappling with rearing our children in a way that helps them catch the heart of social justice.

As we shared where we were at...a clear theme emerged. How do we engage with our domestic workers and nannies in a way that honours Jesus, and shows our children that they are valuable human beings. One shared how saddened she felt when she walks her nanny out to the gate to say good bye, and neighbours will greet her but not the nanny. It is almost as though they don't see the nanny, as if she is not really there. How does nanny feel about this? And what message is being shared to the children? It is so special when you go to someone's home and your hostess welcomes you and introduces you to the nanny/domestic worker as though they are an important part of the family. Recognising their value, not just viewing them as invisible hired help.

How do you build an authentic friendship with your nanny/domestic worker? This is not easy given the history of our country and also the way people of different racial groups view each other. Add to that the employer-employee dynamic where you have power in that you pay salary. But there is another  inequality in the relationship, that makes friendship a challenge - it is the fact that your domestic worker knows so much about you...what your home looks like when it is a mess, how you react with your kids in your most strained moments and more. And yet you know precious little about her, unless she chooses to share. There are many real challenges that may undermine our friendships with our workers.

Yet we know these friendship are possible. Whilst some in the group have grown up in households where the domestic was treated as a second-class person - with separate ablutions, given separate plates to eat off, and unjustly suspected of theft; some have fond memories of nannies who have become "part of the family". One mother shared how her son's nanny had helped to raise her when she was small. This nanny has been working for the family for years. She totally trusts her son's life to this lady, who she knows loves her son as her own. So much so that during a time of crisis earlier this year, when her nanny had to return to her own house urgently, this mother allowed the nanny to take her son with her to Gugulethu - fully trusting that the nanny would never let anything happen to her boy. And nothing did.  

So whilst we all acknowledged the hurdles, most of us expressed a real desire to pursue social justice in our engaging with our workers. I think we may need to discuss this again, looking at some practical steps to help us in crossing this cross-cultural and cross economic divide right here in our own homes.

On a similar theme, another mom mentioned how she is very conscious of how she engages with the car guards at shops. She recognises them as men who have made an effort to get up in the morning, and take responsibility for watching over other people's cars. She knows that they would most likely wish they were doing some other work. Given the unemployment rate, the chance of find work are so slim. They could have chosen to be involved in crime but here they are, wearing their uniforms, greeting people, helping with heavy parcels and clearing away the trolleys. The least we can do is to look them in the eye and thank them. Something feels very wrong as one watches people who leave the shop, and rather begrudgingly allow the car guard to push their trolly to their car, put the parcels in the boot - without acknowledging their existence, without greeting or thanking or sometimes without even looking at them. What are we teaching our children about other people if that is how we respond to those who are seemingly unimportant.

So social justice isn't only about breaking down the massive walls of racism, poverty and inequality or about only about challenging government policy or society's thinking - it is about our every day interactions with everyday people.

A Compassionate Society

A Compassionate Society - quote from Jean Vanier

What sort of society do we want? There are, for me, a few principles. A society that encourages us to break open the shell of selfishness and self-centredness contains the seeds of a society where people are honest, truthful, and loving. A society can function well only if those within are concerned, not only with their own needs or the needs of those who immediately surround them, but by the needs of all, that is to say, by the common good and the family of nations. Each one of us, I believe, is on a journey towards this openness where we risk to love.

Growth toward openness means dialogue, trusting in others, listening to them, particularly to those who say things we don't like to hear, speaking together about our mutual needs and how we might grow to new things. The birth of a good society comes when people start to trust each other, to share with each other, and to feel concerned for each other.

- Jean Vanier, Becoming Human, p. 34

Compassion

You often hear people saying, "oh children can be so cruel". I have seen evidence of this... watching kids tease each other, saying hurtful things, picking on eachothers weaknesses and then of course there is the whole world of bullying. Is this a given, is it something that we must just come to accept, that kids do and say cruel things? Or can we plant in their hearts a seed of compassion, can this seed be nurtured and watered so that one day our kids choose to stand up for those who are weak and for those who are different?

We started our session reflecting on an incident witnessed by a mother of a child with special needs. I have a little boy with a genetic syndrome and so enjoy reading blogs of others on the same journey. Click on this link to read a beautifully written account of how her little girl encounters two very different attitudes at a public swimming pool. Through the descriptive story-telling, it becomes clear that we as adults have a crucial role in shaping the attitudes of our children (and grandchildren) - especially when it comes to modelling compassion and acceptance of those who live, look, talk, walk, smell, sound or function differently to us.

This kick-started a discussion on how we can be intentional about planting those seeds of compassion..here are some thoughts that were shared, not in any order of importance - rather like seeds being scattered and falling randomly, each as important as the next, and each with the potential to grow into something significant. As usually we asked more questions than we found answers - we pray that God will help each of us to find our own unique way of living out the answers within our own families.

Children have the capacity to show compassion, they have the capacity to understand how others feel. This is rooted first in learning about feelings, their own feelings. We can help our children to do this by firstly developing a vocab to describe the various feelings, the positive ones and the negative ones. This can be done in fun ways, in games, in reading books about feelings. It can also be done in the moment of the feeling itself.

Knowing that children can feel deeply for other people, how do we not overwhelm them with the issues of social injustice, whilst at the same time exposing them to people who are different from themselves, who live different lives in different places and who face different challenges. We don't want to caccoon our kids from all the realities of the injust world. But how do we do so in a way that doesn't crush their spirits. One mom shared how eager her 5 year old was to give away all her clothes to a beggar who came to their door. Mom was not sure this man would be honourable, would he sell the clothes for alcohol. Should she be teaching her daughter to be suspicious of people's motives, or should she just let her daughter enjoy the fun of giving? How do we teach our children to be discerning so that they don't grow up to be gulliable and potentially a victim of crime, whilst at the same time nurturing this joyous response to helping someone else.

Developing compassion for another person is usually birthed in taking time to be with that person, to build friendship with that person. Often we first reach out to those who are weak or who need help out of a sense of knowing it is the right thing to do; or out of a sense of calling; and usually the tender feelings of compassion comes after as he have connected with this individual. How do we create that time in our lives with our children, knowing that time is finite - if we make time for this; we are saying no to something else in our lives. We so need God's guidance in how to manage our time, and to know what to prioritise in the various seasons of our lives.

Compassion is linked to understanding that being different is OK, and that we ourselves as different from some people and that is OK. How do our children learn about diversity and difference if we only expose them to people who are exactly the same as us in terms of race, economic background, and religion. Even choosing where we live and which schools we send our kids to is a decision that will affect their ability to nurture the seed of compassion.

Compassion starts small. In the home, for our siblings. In our neighbourhood, for the child next door. In our classrooms, for the child sitting next to me. Compassion is not only about recognising the massive social injustices in our country and responding with love and care and justice; it is also needed in our everyday places where people are hurting and feeling lonely or sad.

We turn our eyes to Jesus, who demonstrated compassion for his broken world, by coming alongside us in our places of pain and struggle, and who died on the cross to bring us new life. He will teach us and inspire us how to make our parenting compassion-full; and thus our children will also be compassion-full.