I love Christmas. I love Christmas songs about God and Jesus' birth, and even the silly songs about Santa and Rudolph. I love gathering with family and celebrating the time of year. I love teaching the kids about why we celebrate Christmas, what Christmas means to us as a family. I love making traditions.

There are many blogs I've read lately which talk about Christmas and how they are working to take the focus off of the commercial aspects of Christmas, off of gifts and what you "get", and put the focus back on Christ where it belongs. I love reading about the ways others are doing this, and I hope to put some of their ideas into action as the years go on.

But I must admit I love giving gifts. I love seeing the look of joy or surprise or wonder at a gift I chose for someone. I love giving gifts. When I was younger it was always so hard for me to wait to give a gift I chose, and I would often end up giving it early because I simply could NOT wait! BUT, I love this because I know and I believe that Christmas is about the ultimate gift ever given. Christ. And as excited and overwhelmed as I get sometimes about some of the gifts I choose to give, I cannot even begin to fathom the depths of the love and excitement that God felt when He gave us the ultimate gift. He sent His ONLY son, for us, knowing how it would turn out, but believing that He was giving us the ultimate gift.

The way that we focus on Christ is in many small ways over the course of the season. We talk about why we celebrate. We read the Christmas story. We give to others in our school district who aren't getting much daily, let alone at Christmas. And while I love giving gifts, it's not about spending until I'm in debt. It's not about buying because I need to spend $5 on someone. I actually buy things throughout the year that I see and know one of my kids will love, then it's carefully put away until Christmas. Come fall I start thinking ahead and finding a few special items for family and close friends. I try to be done by Thanksgiving. Yep, you read that right, DONE BY THANKSGIVING! :) Why??? Well, it's because of exactly what I was talking about. I want to focus on the season.

While i LOVE giving gifts, I love the season and what it means MORE, so I don't want to rush around buying gifts just because I need a certain something for a certain someone. I don't like what the stores become, how rushed people feel and act, how crazy it gets, how it's about getting the best deal, and on and on. I want to focus and enjoy and relax and take it all in and read about God and listen to the beautiful music and hear the lyrics in my heart and soul. I want to show my kids that we are celebrating because of God's gift. The ultimate gift. And on Christmas morning we'll have a birthday cake for Jesus and we'll sing happy birthday to HIM and we'll remember, along with giving each other gifts. And maybe the grandparents will go overboard again, even though every year they say they aren't, :) and we'll continue to celebrate. We'll celebrate His birth and God's gift, and the love we have for each other because of that perfect, ultimate, gift.

Our Christmas. :)