Praise God that his son was born!

Merry Christmas!!

It is Christmas week and if your place is anything like our house it is buzzing with excitement! The tree has been up for about a month and is fully decorated. Stockings are hung, and our kids are jumping with joy.

We know that our kids are excited to see what presents they might be getting if any.

When you think back to when you were a kid what do you remember about Christmas.

Of course, I remember the gifts! My family loved to play jokes.  There was this one Christmas I took my stocking down and was neatly going through it (as all kids neatly go through their stockings).

Then when I got to the bottom there was a package of girl’s underwear! Dad said, Oh is there something we need to know Danny?????? Then after seeing the shock on my face, he said, I guess Santa must have got you and your cousins mixed up!

I also remember the Christmas eve candlelight service. Going to the church sitting with our extended family. Singing songs and listening to the story of Christ’s birth.  It was so much fun when they would turn out the lights and take one lit candle to show Christ’s spirit.

I remember how dark the church was.

Then as we would all light our candles from the original the church would get lighter, and lighter, and lighter. Until we could see so well that we could sing songs out of the hymnal.

The last thing that I loved about Christmas was the lights. Living in rural Colorado where you get to see a house about every ½ mile there weren’t a lot of lights to see. Lol

We had this one neighbor, Russell Kennedy. Every year he would go above and beyond for Christmas lights. He took his horse shed and turned it into a manger scene. Then he also took an old grain elevator and put deer on top of it and a sleigh behind it so it looked like they were flying out of the field. Oh, I can’t forget the tractor.  He took his old tricycle tractor and added Christmas lights. The wheels looked like they were turning and the outline of the tractor was lit up.

As I got older he added to his creation by having presents falling out of the sleigh and Santa chasing after it. Then the next year he added a cowboy riding a horse trying to rope the sleigh to save Christmas.

This year as you give gifts, I encourage you to think about the gifts God gave us.

The gift of forgiveness (Matthew 9:6). The gift of making man ruler over the sabbath (Matthew 12:8). The gift of knowledge and clarification (Mark 7:9).

When you go to church or watch a Christmas movie with your loved ones, think about the blessing that God has given you. The gifts of time together, the joy, the laughter. 

Lastly when you see Christmas lights think about how your faith lights up the world. The same way Christ lights up the world. Let your Faith shine all year for the world to see.