Finding Your Christmas Spirit
I can’t believe that it is almost Christmas.
For some reason over the past few years, I have had a little more trouble than usual getting into the Christmas spirit.
Thankfully I have an amazing wife that has 5 times as much spirit as I do, so it makes up for mine. Right?
I think one of the things that really gets to me is that I feel obligated to buy presents. And that causes us some stress.
Not the actual purchasing of the gifts, but the stress of finding the right gift for the right person.
In case you haven’t figured it out, I’m a shoot-from-the-hip person.
What that means is that I have a tendency not to plan, and then hope for the best. Believe it or not, I am actually getting better at planning. I guess running a business will do that to you. Lol
Now Jenna on the other hand. She is the exact opposite. She HATES when we don’t have everything planned out, and then we don’t have a backup plan. But she does not stop there, she wants a backup plan for our backup plan. Then a backup plan for a backup plan.
After she has all of those planned out, then she might feel comfortable. Or she might make one more backup plan for her backup, backup, backup plans. (I’m confused and exhausted just typing this. Lol)
My point is that she completes me and helps me to be a better person. Especially around Christmas.
Because I would be in the Friends episode where Joey and Chandler give Ross, Rachel, Monica, and Feebe gifts from a gas station. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XFcrp-mvEho
While Jenna is thinking about Christmas gifts in January. She is constantly on the lookout for a great thing to give to others. She starts coming to me earlier and earlier every year with ideas for others.
Anyways.
Where I was going with all this initially is that Christmas is not about gifts. It is about sharing our love for Christ and God with the world.
The world that we live in today and have lived in ever since I was born has made Christmas about gift-giving.
The worst part is that we expect those gifts. And if someone doesn’t give a gift that we truly like then we might have hard feelings towards them.
Not the point of Christmas at all.
Christmas should be a time when we thank God for the gift of his son. A time when we thank God for the gifts that he has given us.
It shouldn’t be a stressful mess where we do not even want to leave the house.
Here is my suggestion for this year.
No, I am not going to say give all of your gifts away. And I won’t tell you not to give to charity. And I’m not going to tell you not to serve those in need.
My suggestion is that we give the gift of Christ this Christmas.
Let us pray more as a family in Christ. Let’s keep Christ and God in our thoughts as we give gifts. Let’s have that conversation with our kids about what Christmas is really all about.
Because those things right there are the REAL gifts of Christmas. Those gifts are what will make the biggest difference for others.
Not the newest video game system, or a new phone.
Take Action
Today is probably the easiest take-action I have asked of you.
All I would like you to do is pray.
Pray for Christ to shine through everything you do this Christmas season. Pray for God’s will to be shown to you so that you can be as Christ-like as possible this next year.
Prayer
Lord, today we pray for you to fill not our hearts, minds, and entire bodies. We pray that you would fill the space around us. Fill our homes with your love. Fill our schools with your love. Fill our businesses with your love. Heck, fill those we do not necessarily even like with your love.
Lord, today we pray that you help us to have you in our hearts in everything that we do. Help us to shine as you do, so that others might see in you when they us. Help us to know that you are the reason for the season. And give us the courage to share that with the world.
We ask all these things in your precious son’s name.
Amen.
A Little More
I was sitting in the back room of our local elementary school while my kids were out on stage doing their performances.
To be 100 transparent with you I felt like I was in trouble. AGAIN. Lol
My wonderfully amazing wife had talked me into doing something extra special for the kids.
You see at the time she was SUPER involved with our little school. She loves giving the kids an experience that they might never get otherwise.
In the past every year she had managed to find a Santa ” to come in and visit the kids after they finished up the Christmas program.
But this year, she couldn’t find anyone!
I mean she searched far and wide, but everyone was either not interested, too skinny, or had kids in the program and they didn’t want to miss it.
So, she convinced me to join in on the fun.
But I had one condition, it couldn’t be like anything else that they had ever done before.
As I sat in the backroom with paint drying on my face, I could hear the kids singing.
I put on my Santa Coat, gloves, and red stocking hat.
My cue for the Christmas program at our local elementary school was when they started singing How the Grinch Stole Christmas.
It was my job to sneak out on the stage and start playing with the kids.
All while being dressed as the Grinch.
This was probably one of the most fun experiences that I have ever had.
I mean I was 100% Grinched out. I gave Jim Carey and Hollywood a run for their money with my outfit (NOT, lol)
Then after the song I grabbed Santa’s bag of gifts that had been sitting on the stage the entire performance and ran off to the back and then out of the room to another room we had set up where I got the opportunity to ask the kids what they wanted for Christmas.
Kind of like Santa would do, but so much funner that Santa could ever be.
You see Santa is sweet and nice. While the Grinch is, well he is the Grinch. And I loved playing that part!
I would ask, What do you want for Christmas?
Well Mr. Grinch I would really like, _____
HMMMMMM, NOPE! Not this year. This year I believe I am going to give you Kitty litter! Hahahahaha
My other favorite line was, Why do you want that, so you can break it? I tell you what, let go rummage through the trash and I’ll give you someone’s broken toys.
Then I would start to stand up while they were on my lap.
The kids had such a fun time, because it was so different from what they were used to. And that made it a BLAST for me.