We are really trying to save money, so we decided not to buy the girls much for Christmas this year. We knew they would get tons of presents from their grandparents and really didn't need anything, anyways. Plus, we don't want them to grow up thinking that Christmas is about the presents; we want the focus to be on the celebration of the birth of Christ! So we decided to just get them a book and a CD that we had been wanting to buy for them. We thought the CD would be a great idea and probably very necessary because Karis would undoubtedly go into Christmas carol withdrawal when we packed up all the Christmas CD's :) And we really needed a good children's Bible because we were not really that excited about the ones we already owned. We really enjoyed our simple family Christmas and I think we might actually continue the tradition of just giving the girls a special CD and book every year. And in case you were wondering, here is what we got them:
The Big Picture Story Bible -- I've seen this Bible in several of my friends' homes and it is truly the best Bible I have seen for a two year old (and older kids as well :). It has large pages with beautiful illustrations and just the right amount of words to keep a toddler's attention. Karis was super excited about it and had the first couple of stories practically memorized after just a few readings.
Questions With Answers -- Vol 1: God and Creation by Dana Dirksen -- One of my friends recently mentioned that her previous church used a curriculum that taught the 2-year-olds the Shorter Catechism. I thought that was a great idea because those questions and answers really lay a solid foundation for theology. Karis has absolutely no interest in "memorizing" anything just because Mama wants her to, but she LOVES music. So I found this CD that I think is just fabulous. It is not the catechism verbatim, but it uses questions to teach the truths about God and creation. It is a very mellow CD, with catchy rhythms and just a simple guitar and voices, and Karis loves it. I've already heard her singing to herself in the bathroom, "Who made me? God made me!" and "Why did God make you? I was was made to glorify God and enjoy Him forever." It melts my heart. I definitely want to get the next CD in the series as well!
