Cookies and Christmas: A roundtable discussion

Throughout the year PE staffers have the privilege of interviewing some of the most fascinating and influential Christians. From lawmakers to newsmakers, from authors to singers, you’ve seen many famous faces on our popular “Conversation” page. This week we thought we’d do something a little different. We gathered together some of the most interesting people we know: our kids. Our Christmas cuties came together for a morning of cookie decorating and a roundtable discussion about Christmas. We hope you enjoy their thoughts as much as we did.

PE: What is Christmas?

Callie: It’s God’s birthday.
Lexi: It’s Jesus’ birthday.
Lauren: And it’s when Santa Claus comes to our house and brings us presents.
Abby: It’s because Jesus was born. But He isn’t born every Christmas. He was just born once a long time ago. We just celebrate it at Christmas.

PE: What is the Christmas spirit?

Emily: A lot of things give me the Christmas spirit, like my mom and dad and my church and my pets and God and presents and lights and decorations.
Lindsay: It means you’re happy and joyful and very loving. And it means you’ve got Jesus in your heart if you’re a Christian. You’re not greedy, at least not on that day. When you get older, you have the Christmas spirit.

PE: So you don’t think kids have the Christmas spirit?

Lindsay: Not all kids. A lot of kids are greedy.
Kianna: And they don’t like the presents that they get. They whine about it and say, “I didn’t want this for a present.”

PE: What does it mean to be greedy?

Abby: When you want a lot of stuff.
Rhett: I’ve already got a lot of stuff.

PE: Where do you think presents come from?

Kevin and Callie: Santa!
Abby: Santa makes the presents. He has elves to help him.
Lexi: I think they come from a factory.
Lindsay: Some presents are from God. Like the present of love and the present of joy and the present of babies.
Lauren: My mom buys some presents, but she doesn’t get much. Santa brings more than a few and that’s why Santa is so special. He knows how to do it the best because that’s his job.
Johnathon: Our presents come from our mom and dad and our whole family. Maybe sometimes from Santa, but sometimes I think it’s my mom and dad putting the presents in the stockings.
Lindsay: It’s funny — my mom goes shopping a few weeks before. But she always says she has to go grocery shopping.

PE: What’s the best Christmas present you’ve ever received?

Lexi: A Sponge Bob skateboard.
Callie: Man, there’s just so many. I can’t choose!
Emily: A princess vacuum. I help my mom clean with it.
Lauren: A Barbie boat. But I tried to see if it would float and it sank.
Lindsay: A Gameboy.
Kianna: I like the trampoline we got for an early present.
Kevin: A remote-control car.

PE: Did you know that we give each other presents because Jesus was given presents when He was born? Do you know what they were?

Kianna: He probably got prayers.
Johnathon: He got perfume and gold and … I forgot the last thing. I need to read the Bible some more.

PE: What if you could give a present to Jesus today. What would you give Him?

Callie: A birthday card.
Lexi: A bowling ball. When it’s raining, He could use the bowling ball to make thunder.
Austin: Boom!
Lauren: A flashlight.
Abby: Christmas lights. If He couldn’t figure out how they worked, then He could use them as a rope.
Rhett: I would give Him love. Love and a magazine to read.
Kianna: I would give Him my prayers. I think He would feel happy about that.
Lindsay: I would give Him a new song for the angel choir.
Johnathon: A hug, a kiss and perfume and gold. Or maybe just gold.
Emily: I would give Him ornaments for His Christmas tree.

PE: Why is it important to celebrate Christmas?

Emily: Because we believe in God.
Lauren: Jesus wants us to be happy because He saved us from being sad. Jesus heals us and He knows we’re really special.
Abby: Yeah, and He wants us to have a lot of presents.
Lexi: We should celebrate His birthday because He’s done a lot of things for us.

PE: Would you be willing to give all of your Christmas presents to a child who didn’t have any presents for Christmas?

Kianna: I would! Because kids who don’t have any presents are very sad.
Rhett: Some people in Africa don’t have any presents or candy or food.
Lexi: We should give what we can so no child feels lonely at Christmas.
Callie: If they have no money, I’ll give my best present to them. If they like it, they can keep it forever.
Abby: I would give all my presents away.

PE: Now think about that — you wouldn’t have any presents left for yourself. Are you sure that would be OK?

Abby: No … I guess I would give some of my presents away.
Johnathon: I would give away two of my best presents and three of my not-so-best presents.
Callie: Maybe we could give away things we don’t play with.

PE: We would like you to tell us the Christmas story now. Each of you take one piece of this nativity and tell about that piece.

Lindsay: This is the stable, the most important thing about the story because Mary and Joseph probably went to 25 or 26 hotels and the rates were all too high, so they went to the last hotel and all they had left was a stable. And this is the star on top. Without that, the three kings wouldn’t have been able to find Jesus and bring their really cool gifts.
Emily: This is Joseph. He asked people at the inn if he could just stay there for one night. I don’t remember anything else.
Lauren: There would have been more room if Joseph would scoot over. In his brain he thinked and thinked about how to make more room. And then he scooted over. Because they also needed room for a donkey.
Rhett: This is a camel. The camel slept in the stable.
Kianna: I have Mary. She’s sitting on a piece of hay. She rode on the camel to Jerusalem and had Jesus.
Lexi: I’ve got the manger. This is where Baby Jesus slept when He was born. Everybody was praying and watching Him and giving Him presents.
Lauren: I have Baby Jesus. He was born and then the bad soldiers cut up His body. But now He’s alive. He died on a cross for our sins and now He loves us.
Abby: This is a sheep. This sheep looked at Baby Jesus. It watched for two hours and then it went to sleep.

PE: What do grown-ups need to know about kids at Christmas?

Johnathon: What they want for presents and that they love their parents.
Lexi: You should be kind to your kids. You should be responsible and not lose them.
Lindsay: Grumpy grown-ups should know that kids want to have fun, but they also want to know about Jesus. Kids are caring and lovable, and if we didn’t have kids, we wouldn’t have people.

PE: Does anybody have anything else to say?

Rhett: No!

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