Christmas Time is Here ~ Day 3

December 3
Merry Christmas! I wish for your Christmas Season to be a joyful time ~ the whole season, not just December 25th.

Christmas Day is special to me…no doubt about it & we make it a big fun family day! My family celebrates Christmas Day just like we do any other family member’s birthday…but then again it is a whole lot different. When one member has a birthday, we tell them Happy Birthday in the morning ~ with a hug and a kiss. Then in the evening, we put out a few decorations (this varies by person), share an awesome meal together, give gifts to the birthday person and then share some sweet dessert & sing Happy Birthday.

On December 25th, we wake up in celebration mode. Jesus is a member of our family and we all get to celebrate Him and His birthday. We wait on the stairs and we talk about Jesus’ birthday to help the littlest ones remember why we celebrate Christmas. Next we sing Happy Birthday to Jesus, and pray. We then come down the stairs and share presents. When the opening of presents is over, we hug and thank one another and play for a while. Finally we share a fun special breakfast. When our bellies are full we get to play and inspect our gifts some more. Some time during all of this I have to sneak into the kitchen to make my dish for the big family dinner at Grandma’s house. In the afternoon, we go over to Grandma’s to see all of the family, where we spend time playing and chatting. We share a nice meal together and then there are gifts to open. We play and chat some more and then we share some dessert together. We end up leaving there really late at night ~ tired and blessed. We have so much fun Christmas Day. My children know it is Jesus’ Birthday. We are thankful that He has allowed us to celebrate it ~ in honor of Him and to show each other how much we love them because of the great love He has shown us.

Think about what Christmas means to you: why you do the things you do, and are you honoring Him in them. What does your Christmas day usually look like? What do you want Christmas day to look like this year? Spend some time in prayer ~ share with God your hopes and desires about this year and seek what He would have you do. I want to leave you with a few scriptures to ponder.

Proverbs 17:22 (NIV) A cheerful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones. {NKJV – uses the phrase merry heart; AMP – uses happy heart}
Nehemiah 8:10 (AMP) Then [Ezra] told them, Go your way, eat the fat, drink the sweet drink, and send portions to him for whom nothing is prepared; for this day is holy to our Lord. And be not grieved and depressed, for the joy of the Lord is your strength and stronghold.

Merry Christmas ~ Laurie Kay

PS ~ someone asked...when are you getting to the actual story of Christmas??? Well...it is coming...we are laying a foundation the first few days...because once we get into the story it is jam packed with scriptures...and we have to be able to receive it and soak it all in :o) Let the anticipation build...what am I going to learn...what is God going to personally speak to me about? What is the new thing that I will learn this year? Can I really learn something new...I heard this story hundreds of times? Are you hungry for God's Word?

I would love to know what you are thinking :o)