the explanation of circumcision.
We are loving our advent e-book Truth in the Tinsel–it’s a great way to engage kids in the Christmas story and take it a step further. There are daily crafts…which we have not done any of. But, our discussions have been good. A few days ago, we focused on Bethlehem and that the word itself means “House of Bread;” we talked about how Jesus is the Bread of Life and what that means. Really significant spiritual conversations with a 9 year old, 7 year old, and 5 year old. And, Lydia, well, guess she’s soaking it all in.
Good stuff.
Today, the focus was on the Temple. Nothing scandalous there, right? We started out by ripping off a link from our paper chain and reading the word on it–Temple. Then, I reminded the kids, “Okay, when I’m reading the Scripture, when you hear the word temple, go ahead and yell ‘TEMPLE.'”
And, I started reading. Luke 2:21-40. Which starts off with Mary and Joseph taking Jesus to the temple to be dedicated….[clear throat]….circumcised.
Being the mom who uses all the anatomically correct words, before being asked, I just put out there, “Do you guys know what that means?”
No.
Of course not. Did I need to ask that?
Was that a smirk I detected on my husband as he stood by and watched this all unfold?
Just picture this…me explaining how baby boys have a piece of skin cut off the top of their penis. Ashlyn gagging and hiding her face and yelling, “OH! I’m SO glad I’m not a boy! OH!” Drew, laying down, unable to even look at me, mortified when he realized, yes, we did this to him. Lydia, looking around and yelling in mimicry of Ashlyn with no clue as to why she’s yelling. And, Evan, calm, cool, collected.
“Ooooohhhhh, so it’s just like shrimp. You gotta pull their tales off before you eat ’em.”
How do you redeem that devotion?