"Is Jesus in it?"

Bob Wurzelbacher has had some poignant reflections that he has shared online recently, largely based on his relationship with his oldest daughter. The latest, "Is Jesus in it?" is a great reminder as we prepare for the celebration of Christmas.

A couple years ago, my wife and I decided my then 2 year old daughter was old enough to watch a 30 minute Christmas cartoon. We only had a few to choose from on DVD, but as we thought of many of the popular ones, we were concerned they all had things in them too scary for a two-year old. Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeerhad the Abominable Snow Monster, Santa Claus is Coming to Town had Winter Warlock… so eventually we settled on Frosty the Snowman.

So we excitedly told Ellie that we had a special treat for her after dinner.
“What is it?” she asked.

“We’re going to watch a Christmas movie!” we exclaimed.

Ellie’s eyes grew big as saucers as she excitedly put down her sippy cup and could hardly contain her enthusiasm as she blurted out, “You mean a movie that really has Jesus, Mary and Joseph in it?”

“Um, no, Ellie, there is no Jesus, Mary or Joseph. But there is a talking snowman and Santa Claus!"

“Oh”, she says.

Well, that little surprise did not go over as well as hoped. She reluctantly even seemed to agree to watch it, and decided the magician was too scary in the first part of the movie and wouldn’t watch the rest of it.

Read the rest at the "Being Catholic" blog.