Is Christmas Just for Children?

In 1968, country singer Glen Campbell recorded a Christmas song that still tugs at our heartstrings today in shopping malls and personal playlists. “Christmas is for Children,” written by Sammy Cahn and Jimmy Van Heusen, begins:

Christmas is for children,
Just for children, grown-ups say
Santa’s down the chimney, that’s for children,
Like the reindeer, and the sleigh.

The main point of this song is in its title and first line: “Christmas is for children.” Yet this basic affirmation gets modified as the song continues:

That same tale is told every Christmas Eve again,
We may think we’re old, but our hearts can almost believe again.

Perhaps Christmas isn’t just for young people. Even those of us who “think we’re old” can enjoy celebrating Christmas. Thus, the song concludes,

I guess Christmas is for children,
But aren’t we all children Christmas day?

Evidence of an older person being a child on Christmas comes in one of the verses of “Christmas is for Children.” “Papa” can’t stop playing with the electric train he had previously ignored as a mature grown-up. Today, we might say that Papa was getting in touch with his inner child. Christmas can make this happen even for those of us who are well into the third third of life.

Children in John’s Christmas Story

I doubt the writers of “Christmas is for Children” were inspired by the connection between Christmas and children found in Scripture. They seem more drawn to Santa than Jesus. Yet a close reading of the first chapter of John’s Gospel also makes a strong connection between Christmas and children, children of God, that is.

We don’t usually think of John as presenting the Christmas story. In the fourth gospel, you won’t find any shepherds on hillsides, magi with gifts, or a baby in the manger. But the profound truth of Christmas is found in John 1:14 where it says, “And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father’s only son, full of grace and truth.” “And the Word became flesh” . . . this is the essence of Christmas, the fundamental Christmas miracle, the very Word of God becoming human in Jesus. Because of the Incarnation of the Word celebrated at Christmas, we receive “grace upon grace” (1:16) plus “grace and truth” (1:17). We can know God as our Heavenly Father (1:18).

“And the Word became flesh” . . . this is the essence of Christmas, the fundamental Christmas miracle, the very Word of God becoming human in Jesus.

Yet that’s not all. In the verses immediately before “And the Word became flesh,” we learn that the Word gave a priceless gift to those who “received him” and “believed in his name” (1:12). What was this gift? “He gave power to become children of God” (1:12). Jesus, as the Word of God Incarnate, gives not only grace and truth but also the ability to become God’s own children. Because of Jesus, we are adopted into God’s family. We can be God’s beloved daughters and sons.

Christmas Enables Us to Become Children of God

We learn from the Gospel of John that Christmas is for children in a way that is not captured in the song sung by Glen Campbell. The core reality of Christmas—the Word of God made flesh—makes it possible for us to become children of God. We can know God, not only as Savior and source of truth, but also as our Heavenly Father who loves us and dwells with us. Later in John Jesus says, “Those who love me will keep my word, and my Father will love them, and we will come and make our home with them” (14:23).

In our Christmas celebrations, we focus on Jesus, the Son of God, born of Mary, laid in a manger. Jesus is unique as a child miraculously conceived by the Holy Spirit. Jesus, in the classic words of the Nicene Creed, is “God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God.” Yet, through his birth, life, death, and resurrection, Jesus enables us to become beloved children of God. So, while it is certainly appropriate for us at Christmas to celebrate the one-of-a-kind Son of God we call Jesus, we ought also to celebrate the fact that, because of Jesus, we are God’s children, beloved sons and daughters of the Heavenly Father.

Conclusion

Is Christmas just for children? It depends on what you mean by “children.” If you mean that Christmas is only for young people, then you’re missing something profound and essential about Christmas. But if you mean that, because of Christmas, we can be children of God, then Christmas is surely for children. Because of Christmas, that is, because of the Incarnation of the Word of God, we can become children of God.

Because of Christmas, that is, because of the Incarnation of the Word of God, we can become children of God.

Surely, this truth is something to celebrate throughout the year. But it’s especially worthy of our rejoicing during Christmastime. Yes, Christmas is for children, including those of us in the third third of life.