Discouragement to Gratefulness

This Christmas was full of surprises.  I planned to blog about all the many ways you could incorporate Christ into your celebrations.  I planned to bake our annual birthday cake for Jesus. I planned a lot and got very little done.  We had the stomach flu go through two weeks in a row, and then respiratory colds.  Two of my children were baptized, after making a profession of faith.  That was a great blessing! Things were very busy, and I spent a lot of nights up too late trying to finish making the adorable monkeys I was sewing for my kids. I entered Christmas feeling discouraged by all I had not got done.

Isn't it great that the God we serve does not look down on us and say "well you really failed this one".  It's great that God gives us grace and that in reality we can celebrate his birth everyday all year through as HE is the greatest gift on the earth.  Though I started out discouraged I will not end that way, for I know I can continue to celebrate all that God has done. 

I'm going to celebrate by going back through the devotions we missed on the names of God during Advent season. I look forward to continually challenging my kids in their faith and spiritual growth as they live out what it means to be a follower of Jesus.  I'm excited to find new tools to help me do that, new object lessons and make new memories as we explore God and his awesome power together.  I'm going to keep on praising and thanking God that he came to earth for us, as a baby and went to the cross and died and rose again as a man, that we might have forgiveness, that we might actually have life.

There is so much to look forward to and more to be grateful for.  I am so grateful that I have three relatively healthy children, colds are nothing compared to the struggles and diseases that so many watch their children go through.  We have a place to live and food to eat. We may only live in an apartment, but praise God it's a nice one, and we have a roof when so many do not.  I'm grateful that my husband can work hard so I can stay home and raise our children. I know many who are out of work.  I am blessed beyond measure, my kids were here with me, I could see their faces and watch their eyes sparkle and hear their little voices.  I could hold them even when they were sick and throwing up, I could hold them and feel the warmth of their little bodies snuggled in close to me.  I am so blessed when I know there are so many that have empty arms this season, and long to see their children and hold them in their arms once more.  I have a husband, who loves me and who is filled with integrity. I am blessed that I am not a widow or a single mom struggling to provide and care for children alone.  I thank God for my many blessings.  I am so thankful that God got my attention, he saved me, rescued me from my sins, took me out of my brokenness and made me into the woman I am today.  I am forever grateful.  God is good. I have found that when I praise the Lord and stop and thank him and see all my blessings, there is no longer room for discouragement.


     Praise the LORD. Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good; his love endures forever.
                                                Psalm 106:1

Celebrating Christ at Christmas

I love Christmas.  I love seeing lights through out the neighborhood.  I love decorating trees, and I love singing Christmas carols.  In fact I love it so much that we put our tree up before Thanksgiving this year and we have the radio on to Christmas music whenever we are home. 

Yet I struggle with Christmas.  I get drawn into toy isles at the store and drool over all the things I want to lavish upon my children.  Then I come home and see that they have more toys than we have room for and they don't need any of the things that I thought were so amazing only hours earlier. I find that at Christmas time I have many inward battles over staying in budget or buying the things that look so cool for my kids. I can easily get sucked into the commercialism of Christmas, but I don't want to.  This year we have decided that we are not buying gifts for our kids, now before you all think I am horrible, let me tell you, we are making gifts. I am making them each a monkey stuffed animal.  Monkeys are very loved in our house.  My husband is making them gifts too. My kids love to make things and love seeing the time that goes into making gifts, so I know they will be appreciated.   Birthdays can be all about them and the fun gifts they get, we will be buying things for that, but I want Christmas to be about Christ and his birth, about love and sacrifice.

A few years ago when money was really tight and we really couldn't afford to buy gifts we started some traditions that our family has loved and has carried on.  Not only did being broke show the importance of celebrating what Christmas is really about, but it also allowed us to see God provide in amazing ways. My husband ended up winning a drawing he entered at work and got an amazing maker kit with cool color pages, the designs showed up once you started to color on the paper.   My eldest daughter opened it up on Christmas morning, she then spent hours coloring, it was a gift that truly suited her.  Of course it would, God provided it.  Then a friend ended up with two of the same ball blowing toys and gave us one.   Our son opened it on Christmas,  he too loved his gift and spent hours playing with it.  How amazing it is to see that, in spite of our lack of financial ability that year, God provided a gift for our kids to open on Christmas morning, a gift that matched their desires.  God is so good at providing for our needs all the time and even our wants.  He is the best gift of all.

The year it started.

We love to celebrate Christmas remembering that He is the best gift. So on Christmas eve my husband and I hide 6 pictures around the house. They are numbered and they have the story of Christ's birth.  I got the pictures from Christian Preschool Printables. The kids try to find them  by playing the hot cold game. They have to find them in numerical order, as they do we read the story of Jesus birth.  Then we go to the table and have cake for breakfast, we put three candles in it, for the Father, Son and Holy Spirit and sing Happy Birthday to Jesus.  My kids love this. Of course the cake is glutten free. The food coloring is India Tree natural colors and we enjoy every bite. 

We then enjoy the day celebrating Jesus and we slowly open presents, remembering that Jesus is the best present of all. Some years we also make a pizza shaped in a Christmas tree.  We have fun all month preparing for Christmas with baking and making fun things to give as gifts to others.  I like instilling in my kids the joy of giving and the joy for Jesus all year, but especially at Christmas time.

How do you make Christmas a Christ centered celebration?