Traditions

December. What a month! Let's face it, we are all walking around (ok running around) with fake smiles on our faces worrying about how we are going to accomplish our lists. We just came down from a turkey high and are caught, down and out, with too many things to do, and not enough motivation to get it done. Today, I realized that I am focused on the wrong things. I don't know when or how the focus was shifted, but it happened. I have been caught up in the gifts and parties and superficial things that surround the Christmas season. I took time this afternoon to think about Christmas past and try to regain my focus. I landed on our family traditions.

One tradition we have is placing baby Jesus in the manger on Christmas Eve after reading the birth of Christ from the bible. It helps to bring focus on Him. The true reason for this season! I decided to tweak this tradition a little bit this year. Upon spending time in God's Word I decided to wrap up baby Jesus! (It just so happens that we have enough nativity sets that each of our family members will have a baby Jesus to unwrap!) We can still read the story of Christ's birth on Christmas Eve, but we will wait to place Jesus in the nativity until the following morning. (Another tradition we have is to make a red velvet cake for Jesus' birthday. I wanted to remind the kids that Santa is not the meaning behind Christmas, but Christ is!)

So my thought is this: that before we do anything Christmas morning, we can open these gifts of Jesus and feast on the Word before feasting on cake (and gifts)! The scriptures can be different every year so that we are taken through out God's Word to learn about His gift to us; Jesus.

So, I then thought about Jesus. What is He? He is our gift! The ultimate gift! So I chose four (the number of family members) gifts that Jesus blesses us with.

I chose: Forgiveness, Eternal Life, Inheritance & Help. I will place a note containing scriptures that correspond to each of the gifts that the receiver will read out loud. I can't explain how blessed I feel after reading the verses for this little project! I pray that God will soften the hearts of my family and make them fertile to receive His word when we celebrate His gift of Christ this season! I can't wait to see what God will do with the seeds that will be planted!