God Gave Us Christmas Review

God Gave Us Christmas Description:

As Little Cub and her family prepare to celebrate the most special day of the year, the curious young polar bear begins to wonder… 

“Who invented Christmas?”Mama’s answer only leads to more questions like “Is God more important than Santa?” So she and Little Cub head off on a polar expedition to find God and to see how he gave them Christmas. Along the way, they find signs that God is at work all around them. Through Mama’s gentle guidance, Little Cub learns about the very first Christmas and discovers that…

Jesus is the best present of all.This enchanting tale provides the perfect opportunity to help young children celebrate the true meaning of Christmas and to discover how very much God loves them.

My Review:
Lisa's God Gave Us series is quickly becoming one of my favorites.  From God Gave Us You to God Gave Us Love and so many more I have fallen in love with the beautiful stories, gorgeous illustrations but mostly with the message included in each book - Every good and perfect thing comes from above.

In this installment of the series little cub has questions about Christmas, and Mama Bear takes him out on an adventure to discover what Christmas is really about.  From the beginning when Little Cub asks if God is more important than Santa I knew this would be a story that children could relate to, and when Mama answers, "Oh yes, much more important!" I knew that I would love it.

I like that this book doesn't dismiss Santa (keep in mind we have not told our daughter that Santa is real, we don't have presents from Santa on Christmas and he doesn't put candy in stockings in our house, but you can't escape this jolly old man in the US so my daughter has a casual belief in him) but it does get the point across that "Santa Claus reminds us about many good things like generosity and care.  But it is God and Jesus that we celebrate most come Christmas.  We always want to thank God for giving us Christmas."  Perfectly said! 

I also like that we are reminded that "Jesus is a present for everyone, grumpy or happy, mean or kind.  God gave us all Christmas."  Children can easily associate the concept of Santa bringing presents for good boys and girls with the gift of Jesus, and think He only came for the good boys and girls as well.  This opens the door for parents to talk to their children about how we are each imperfect, but God loves us so much He made a way for us to be with Him.

This book has been added to my Christmas reading collection, along with The Crippled Lamb and Room for a Little One: A Christmas Tale.