We talk all the time about keeping Christ as the center of our Christmas. Yet how many times are we guilty of being manipulated by the holiday hoax and caving in to the pressure? In this crazy world we live in where all our Christian views are being challenged, I challenge you today – do everything you can this year to share the true Christmas spirit – rejoicing in the birth of our Savior. 

Not sure where to start? Start small. If you send Christmas cards, be sure you choose ones that celebrate the birth of Christ. Forget the snowman, santa, pretty winter scenes and lovely victorian pictures. If the cards do not proclaim a scripture or saying glorifying God, don’t buy them! Choosing holiday stamps? Go for the Holy Family style rather than Gingerbread Houses. Yeah, they’re cute but we’re keeping Christ as the focus, remember? Same with wrapping paper and gift bags. No, I don’t believe our wrapping paper needs to always be covered with angels : ) I use a lot of solid silver and gold paper. What I won’t use are santas, reindeer, anything that proclaims the word holiday over the word Christmas. And please do have a nativity scene in your Christmas decor.

What are you doing this year to bring the focus back to Jesus?

Deer are graceful creatures. Easily startled. Able to leap with a single bound…over the guardrails and into my husband’s car. It is one of the negatives of living up a winding hill in the country. Over $4,000 later (thank God for insurance) the car is back on the road and life is returning to normal. I’m rejoicing daily that no harm came to my husband in the accident. Last week I passed an ambulance at the same spot he encountered the deer: except this driver had landed in the ditch to avoid it. I prayed for them as I inched by the accident scene.

Because we live five miles up a hill, it is very easy to zoom down it and heavy-foot the gas pedal to climb back up. However…I have reverted to slow mode. I give myself extra time and cut my speed down on our deer-inhabited road. In this hurry-scurry world, we don’t realize how much we are in constant motion. Slowing my driving up and down my hill helps me to pray, focus, sing psalms and hymns,  and view the scenery.

Wow, neighbors have been re-modeling – I want a porch like that on my next house!

Whoa, what a beautiful sunrise. God is an amazing artist.

What lovely landscaping…

Instead of begrudging my lack of speed, I’m learning to live more in the moment : )

What causes you to slow down? Have you taken time today to look around you and appreciate God’s blessings?

Do those words lure you in? Do you eagerly await the overloaded newspaper filled with thick glossy ad booklets of Black Friday Sales?

During the coming week of Thanksgiving, I encourage you to concentrate on all the things God has already blessed you with. Yes, I know, it’s time to Christmas shop. But it doesn’t have to be this week. I understand (sort of) how some people are addicted to Black Friday shopping and they can’t resist the promise of incredible sales. Just don’t start till Friday, please. The stores are getting worse all the time with Pre-Black-Friday sales actually starting on the holiday itself. Sorry, but I truly believe Thanksgiving should be just that, a time of Thanksgiving. Not a time of chasing sales and forcing the retail staff to be working instead of enjoying their own day off. If sales are low enough, maybe this new trend will fade away. Here’s hoping.

Your Thanksgiving Challenge: Don’t Shop! Prepare ahead for your Thanksgiving meal and get your grocery shopping done early so you can enjoy your day. Tip: Throw out the sale ads without even looking at them!

Happy, blessed Thanksgiving to all!