The other day, I heard of a new Christmas ad, which appeared on city buses in some states. The ad shows a couple of smiling young people, all decked out, with presents in the background. The caption says: “No God? No problem!”

Then I attended a birthday party for a toddler. Beautiful home, wonderful food, great gifts. Among them was a book/CD player with the pictures of several Sesame Street characters. The toddler excitedly shouted out the names of every single character, without missing a beat or breaking to catch a breath. There was not a single religious item in the house.

Both incidents called to mind the trite, old phrase that many parents, in the last few decades, repeated after I don’t know which “expert:” “We’re not going to make up our children’s minds about religion: we’re going to let them choose for themselves when they grow up.”

Now, let’s think about that. Every single thing we say or do shapes our children’s future. Everything. The way we eat at home will determine what our children will like and dislike; it is extremely difficult to change our diets! Just ask those who, for health reasons, have been threatened with dire consequences if they don’t stop chowing down on fast food, white bread and other “delicacies.”

The way our parents talk has an immense influence on our vocabulary! I remember when our firstborn was about two and was picking up words right and left. One day, in the presence of my husband, he smilingly came up and said: “Sh..!” My husband looked at me in shock and asked: “Where did he pick that up?” I looked right at him and answered: “Three guesses!”

I could go on and on with examples, but you get my meaning. I repeat, “everything that parents say and do has an enormous influence on what our children will say and do throughout their lives.” So: we teach them to shower every day, brush their teeth every night, eat their veggies, coordinate their wardrobe and so on. But that does not stop here. By the books, movies, CDs we bring in the house we also teach them what we value. Most likely, they will value the same things we do, even if when they hit about 12, they say that they will NEVER behave like us, and try their best to show it with their infuriating behavior.

Remember the toddler who could name every character on Sesame Street but has never seen a single religious item in his house? At this stage of life, that child is convinced that those characters, and all his favorite cartoon friends, are real. I know that it is so because there is an old principle of fictional writers and movie makers: “Suspension of disbelief.” In other words, the goal of those who write our books and direct our movies is to make us believe that what they tell us is real, no matter how fantastic it may seem, so that we soak up their ideas. You don’t think it works? Remember the Da Vinci Code? And this “suspension of disbelief” works even better with the little ones, who have no notion of “disbelief.”

Back to our toddler. He never heard of Jesus. He now has learned that his character friends are fictional, because he has never seen them in the flesh. So far, so good. But, now that he is grown up (say he’s 10 or 11) grandma pushes the parents to have the child baptized. In order to do so, he must attend Catechism classes, and the catechist tells him about God and Jesus. In the majority of cases, the poor kid will not be able to grasp the idea of a real invisible person! After all, if God is so important, so Almighty, so Omnipresent, why hasn’t he heard of Him before? Why don’t his parents talk about Him? Why do they live as if He did not exist?

Can you see the conflict? Now back to the bus Christmas ad. Is it a wonder that many folks think Christmas is just a day to eat until we burst, exchange costly gifts and, after the day is over, swallow some Peptobismol and get a loan to pay off those credit cards.

Now, I know that most folks have already bought all the gifts to put under the tree, or around the manger. Among all the sparkling display of abundance, is there, by any chance, a religious DVD, a book about the Faith, a special rosary, a picture of the Holy Family, the life-story of a Saint? If not, why not?

We still have a few short days until Christmas, will your children and grandchildren know what we are celebrating? Do you want them to know Jesus? And to know that He is as real as the nose on their faces? Yes, you are still in time to buy some real Catholic gifts for them. In our area of town there is a good Catholic bookstore that also sells religious gift items: Holy Family, on Wadsworth and about 68th. If you are handy with the internet, you can go to Ignatius Press. They have a tremendous inventory of great Catholic gifts for the entire family, from books to CDs to DVDs to icons etc., etc. Give it a try: shouldn’t everything in your home reflect your values? Then why should we have a Christmas without God?