What’s your favorite part Christmas? Do you like the lights around town? Do you like the food and the time with family? Or the presents under the tree and decorations around the house? These are a lot of what we think of when we think of Christmas and this time of year but all of these questions are missing THE MOST IMPORTANT part!!!
I absolutely LOVE Christmas! I love everything about it-the decorations, the music, the time with family, the food, the presents, the lights and yes even the snow. J I love the traditions my family and I share. For instance when I was home last weekend over Thanksgiving break my family went and got our Christmas tree. Every year we go to a tree farm, cut down our Christmas tree, go home set it up, and then that night we decorate it together. Another tradition for me was helping my family decorate the house and put up the lights. Every time I see the Christmas decorations that my roommates and I set up in our apartment I smile. From the time I was one and a half I liked to point out all of the Christmas lights around town and every year I helped my dad put our own lights up. Yet another tradition we share is that of making Christmas cookies. Now I was really the only one who enjoyed this, but it was a tradition! Dad would help me roll out the cookie dough because I was never able to actually manage to do that correctly. I would bake them, and then my mom, brother, and I would frost and decorate them.
All of these traditions are wonderful! They are a lot of what makes the Christmas season special, and I truly hope and pray that every family has their own traditions that they continue to share every year. The problem is that every year I get so caught up in tradition and all of the other aspects of Christmas. What about Jesus? Without Him there wouldn’t be a Christmas. Without Him there wouldn’t be life!! Jesus came that we might have life and have it to the full! John 10:10
Another tradition my family and I have is going to church on Christmas Eve. I would like to think of that as more than a “tradition” but is it? I go to church and I sing the songs and listen to the Christmas story. I love it! It feels almost magical, but we’re going partly because that’s what we’ve always done and that’s what you’re “supposed” to do. This year when we go to church I want to remember the real reason I’m there. I don’t want to go because it’s just another tradition. I want to go to celebrate the birth of my Savior!
“Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord.” Luke 2:11
“You will be with child and give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever; his kingdom will never end.” Luke 1:31-33
Christmas has become so commercialized! Every year everybody rushes out on Black Friday to buy as much as they can and save as much money as possible. We all have to make sure we have the “perfect” gifts for each other because many feel like that’s what makes Christmas special. We buy decorations and new lights every year (because inevitably there is at least one string of lights that is burned out). We make sure that catch of our favorite classic Christmas movies on TV and if we’re not home at that time then we need to Tivo it!! Christmas time causes a lot of stress for a lot of people, but I don’t understand that! We should be able to enjoy the time with our family with or without the gifts, decorations, and food. We need to remember that Christmas is about more than all the “stuff.”
When I have a family and kids I hope we will continue some of the traditions from my childhood and make some of our own traditions. I hope my children grow up loving Christmas time and the feeling the joy of the Christmas spirit every year. But I also want them, my future husband, myself, and everybody else to remember the reason for Christmas and what Christmas is really about!
Jesus is the only one who can bring you true joy this Christmas!!
Black Friday is ridiculous. I honestly don't know whether to laugh at the craziness of it all or cry because of how empty those people's lives must be that they have to nearly kill each other over Barbie dolls and big screen TV's. In all the times I've gone to Wal-Mart, I've never seen a spot on the shelves for "love". In all the times I've gone to Best Buy, I've never seen them having a sale on "forgiveness". Those things could never be sold because everyone already has them. Too many forget that.
ReplyDeleteI feel this is appropriate for Black Friday:
What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his soul? -Mark 8:36
Also, glad to see you don't want to do things just because of tradition. It's much more satisfying to actually understand why you're doing something and to want to do it.