I have a confession to make: I have never seen It’s A Wonderful Life. I know. That’s probably as atrocious as the fact that my husband has never seen The Princess Bride. Okay, you’re right. THAT IS SO MUCH WORSE, JEFF.
I waited until November before breaking out the Christmas movies. I’m always a bit crazy about Christmas time but this year I am eagerly anticipating introducing Scarlette to the magic of this season. I mentioned in the last post how important it is to me that she grow up surrounded by the story of a miracle Christ child. I want very much for love and service and giving to be her association with the holiday season.
We use Veggie Tales music for our movement time (Which is basically where we dance around the den. Sometimes we do this to Taylor Swift music too. That girl has decent values. And good hair.) Anyhow, Scarlette loves it. Also, I can sing the entire Veggie Tales “Pirates Who Don’t Do Anything” by heart and that is an excellent party trick to my nieces/nephews. And also at my husband’s office Christmas party. Just kidding. But only because they don’t have open mic. Veggie Tales sent us The Ultimate Christmas Collection and that is how we started our introduction to Christmas movies this year.
CLICK CONTINUE READING to be entered to win and download the free Veggie Tales printables!
I know that Scarlette is two years old, but I don’t think it’s ever to early to cultivate values, even if she can’t fully comprehend the lessons that we are laying out for her just yet. So first we watched The Toy That Saved Christmas and I loved it. Because it’s all about how Christmas is NOT about toys. Except it is cute and funny instead of preachy.
It’s tough not to perpetuate that idea, the one that says that Christmas is about stuff. I mean, Scarlette is (and will be) an only child. We waited a long time for her. Then we spent the first six months of her life in a hospital. I want to give her the world. I want to spoil her with things and I have to temper that desire with the greater desire I have for her to recognize that giving and receiving is much more than tactile things.
Now I am on a tangent but I appreciate the mission of Veggie Tales and I loved being able to play holiday movies that expanded on the message that I want her to hear. Not that “Toys Are Bad” but that giving and receiving is a small representation of a holiday with a big meaning.
There are six holiday movies in the collection (plus a CD of 25 Favorite Christmas Songs) and that is how I came to realize that I’ve never seen It’s A Wonderful Life. Because we were watching “It’s A Meaningful Life” a la The Veggie Tales and I was like “I feel as though I have seen references to this movie before. Why is that?” and my husband was all “Um, because it’s a play on It’s A Wonderful Life?” and then he had the audacity to act all shocked that I’ve never seen that movie, EVEN THOUGH HE STILL HASN’T SEEN THE PRINCESS BRIDE.
Veggie Tales is generously giving away a copy of The Ultimate Christmas Collection to one of my readers, which I am so excited about because I think it’s a great addition to our holiday watch list. (And if you want to put it on the gift list for one of the little ones in your life, they marked it down to $15.99 in the Veggie Tales store this week + they have some other sales/free shipping codes on their site)
For some bonus fun Veggie Tales created some fun, free printables for little ones! That is what Miss Scarlette is coloring in the photo above. I am so excited for messy child-made ornaments to be hanging on my tree this year.
Here are the links to the free printables: Veggie Tales Gift Tags, Veggie Tales Ornaments, and Veggie Tales Card!
To be entered to win a copy of The Ultimate Christmas Collection from Veggie Tales, just leave me a comment! (The titles included are: It’s a Meaningful Life, Saint Nicholas: A Story of Joyful Giving, The Little Drummer Boy, The Toy that Saved Christmas, The Star of Christmas, Christmas Singalong DVD + 25 Song CD!
(This is part two of my Reader Appreciation Giveaways, click HERE to enter the giveaway from DaySpring! I am running this giveaway with rafflecopter so you can earn extra entries for tweets/likes. If you can not see the rafflecopter box, let me know in the comments and I will manually add your entry for you! Also, this one is for US residents only, so sorry- but the next two are open to international ladies I promise!)
