Have a Real CHRISTmas this year!

Merry Christmas!! At our house, I think we're just going to skip right over Halloween, take just enough time to eat a few bites of turkey and macaroni and cheese on Thanksgiving, and sail straight ahead into Christmas Season. Every year I hit Christmastime Full-Speed-Ahead... and every year I procrastinate certain gifts and things that need to be done.

Where in time did the true meaning of Christmas go out the window? When did it become easier to focus on buying, choosing, wrapping, and giving a million gifts than it is to tell ten people about the whole reason we even have Christmas? Imagine if this year you told your kids and family that instead of buying gifts for them, everyone else, and your neighbors, you were going to read them a special book about the Birth of Jesus. How well do you think that would go over?

The truth is, giving gifts, buying gifts, wrapping gifts, UNwrapping gifts, opening gifts, just about ANYTHING involving gifts, is forever a part of Christmas in America. That's just how it is and will be for at least the rest of our lives.  So, why can't we give gifts AND read our kiddo's the REAL Christmas Story? If God allows us the privilege to have the financial means to make our family feel special and loved through gifts and celebrations on during each Christmas season year after year, don't you think we OWE it to Him to include Him in all of the SPLENDOR? I think WE ALL do.

I admit, in the past years, I have failed to remember the true meaning of Christmas and WHY we have Christmas. Lately, I have been painting and making different Christmas Crafts, so I've been googling random ideas to incorporate into my own ideas. I've found a million crafts with SANTA as the focus, but I started noticing how hard it was to find BIBLICAL CHRISTIAN Christmas craft ideas. That's when I really realized that I'm just as much to blame for this as anyone else is. And I also realized that also, just as everyone else, I also have the ability to fix this problem. And this season, I'm going to make a conscious effort to not only spread Holiday Cheer, but I want to make a conscious effort to remember the real reason for Christmas, WHO we are honoring, WHY we even have Christmas, etc. I want to wake up POST Christmas this year, and feel like I did my job to make God smile by remembering Him, and I encourage you all to make sure you start NOW to remind your kiddos WHY we even have Christmas.

Breathe in, Breathe out, and this year don't stress about whether you spent too much on someone or if they will know how much you spent. I wish EVERYONE, myself included, would pick out each and every gift, stocking stuffer, etc, by putting emotions and feelings into it. It's the beginning of October, so you still have time. Take your paper, and write down everyone on your list that you WANT to buy Christmas for. Beside each person, write their interests, what they enjoy doing, etc. Then, instead of hitting Dillard's when they have their special sale days, hit odds and ends stores NOW before the traffic and hustle picks up. If you put thought into their gifts instead of $$$ signs, you will find yourself making your new recipe for Christmas cheer in your life and the life of others. Who knows, you may be the only person who really put thought into that person this year. And the $5 pair of fuzzy gloves that you know the lonely housekeeper would love... put down that cosmo magazine and buy them for her in it's place. That's what we all should do. You NEVER know when your smallest of gestures may be their only gesture at all! What's small to you may be life changing for them. You could even send anonymous gifts!!

If there is a particular area of your family that is rather large, and the thought of buying for the ENTIRE family stresses you out, make the the phone call and tell them that you want to draw names this year. Set a limit and stick to that limit. If the limit is set for $25 and you stick to the limit, but they spend $40, don't feel bad about not sticking to it. I bet next year they'll spend $25 like you all agreed to, so it's only like one year of uncomfortableness... :) And don't run out and pick up random things until you reach that $25 limit... Add that person to your list of people to buy for. What do they like? What do they collect? You would be surprised what kinds of things you can add to people's collections from antique stores...

Bottom line(s):

              This year, remember the wise men brought Jesus their finest oils. They did this willingly and they wanted to give Him this gift to show Him how important HE was to everyone. Show your friends and family how important they are to you, not by buying the hottest item, but by making this Holiday CHRISTmas season count. For everyone.