Wait for Christmas as a Christian family - it’s a vital part of who you are

Right from the beginning, the people of God have always been a people who wait - Michael J Tinker encourages Christian parents to embrace that this Christmas

My youngest loves Christmas. He always has and I suspect always will. He would be happy never taking decorations down and probably thinks that technology’s greatest gift to mankind is the internet so ‘Heart Christmas’ can be on all year round.

I love Christmas too. In fact, I would happily subscribe to the 12 days of Christmas - not the song on repeat, but the actual 12 days of feasting, starting on Christmas Day. I feel we’ve done ourselves and the festival a disservice by making it all about one day, which inevitably is a disappointment.

As we wait for Christmas Day, we are reminded of the Israelites waiting for the promised King

But I have my limits. I don’t want to hear Christmas music until December. And while my son thinks I’m the reincarnation of Scrooge (if a fictional character can be reincarnated… and if reincarnation was actually a thing…) I do have theological reasons for wanting to hold off the festivities.

As painful as it is, waiting is ……