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God’s Gifts at Christmas

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‘Tis the Season

‘Tis the Season… the season where we threaten our kids if they don’t obey, they aren’t getting any presents for Christmas! Ha! Maybe that’s just at our house. The honest truth is, we are going to give presents to our kids, whether they deserve them or not. Sure we threaten them, but when Christmas Day comes, there will be presents under the tree. Why? Because we love our children and want to do good things for them, even if they don’t deserve it.

Jesus Talks about Good Gifts

Jesus was talking to his disciples about prayer, and He talks about them giving gifts to their children.

If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children: how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him? Luke 11:13

I love how blunt Jesus is. Remember, He is talking to his disciples, not the Pharisees. Yet he calls his disciples evil! He says even you, who are evil, choose to give good gifts to your children. How much more does your Heavenly Father want to give good gifts to those who ask of Him?

Surprised at God’s Gifts

So many times we don’t expect God to do good things for us. We are surprised when He sends a good gift our way. Why? Probably because we don’t think we deserve it. Yet, God says repeatedly that He loves giving His children gifts.

Sometimes it feels like God isn’t sending any gifts our way. Maybe it’s because we aren’t looking for them or we’re looking for them in the wrong places. We are looking for His gifts in our bank account, at our job, from friends. Maybe He is showering us with gifts, but we are too busy and consumed to notice them.

God’s Gifts All Around Us

God has given us so many good gifts, and Christmas time is a good time to purposefully look for them. When you do, you will see they are all around you.

It’s the family that sits around the table with you on Christmas day. It’s the warm home and bed that you will sleep in tonight. It’s the joy on your kids’ faces on Christmas morning when they open their presents- presents that God provided the money to buy. It’s sipping hot chocolate while looking at Christmas lights. It’s setting up the Christmas tree and decorating the house while Christmas music plays. It’s the joy of seeing friends at the holidays that you haven’t seen in a while. It’s the break from the busyness and stress of work to enjoy time to relax. It’s in reading the Christmas story and being reminded that we have all of this because of a baby in a manger.

Looking at lights as a family…with hot chocolate.

Christmas is full of God’s gifts to us. If you choose to look, you will find them all around you. During this Christmas season, let’s choose to look for these gifts and thank God for them. Enjoy the small blessings of His favor all around you. If you want a great Christmas book to remind you of the wonders of Christmas, grab a copy of Matt’s book Chase the Wonder: Stories of Christmas to Fill Our Hearts with Hope. I am enjoying reading a chapter each morning after I finish my Bible reading and journaling.

If you want some inspiration to create Christmas memories with your family, check out these posts- Family Christmas Series: #1 Reading Basket or Family Christmas Series: #2 Looking at Lights.

Hugs with my son, Malachi.

Christmas Family Series- #2

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photo credit: Element 5 Digital

Do you ever feel like the holidays fly by without fitting any meaningful family time in? I have in my mind all the things I want to do as a family for the holiday season, but all of a sudden January hits and we didn’t get to any of it.

A few years ago, Matt and I talked and decided to do something about it. We decided to be more intentional about the holidays. I knew if we were going to fit more into our schedule, I had to find ideas that were simple and easy. I started trying to find ways to incorporate more quality family time in during the holiday season. We have several things now that we do as a family each year that I want to share over the next few weeks. Here we go!

Idea #2: Looking at Lights

This idea is super easy. Load all the kids into the car, turn on the Christmas music, and drive around looking at Christmas lights. We try to do this several times during the Christmas season. Sometimes we drive through McDonald’s and get hot chocolate for everybody.

It doesn’t sound spectacular, but it’s so much fun for the kids, especially when they are not expecting it. We love to surprise them. Sometimes we wait until the kids are in pajamas and ready for bed; then we tell everyone to grab a coat and put on their shoes. Chaos ensues. Everybody runs around grabbing coats and shoes. We all pile into the van and take off. We don’t stay out long- maybe about twenty minutes or so. It’s just long enough to spend some meaningful time together as a family. 

Creating family time in the midst of a busy season doesn’t have to take a lot of time or money. It just takes a little creativity and planning to sneak it into a busy schedule. We won’t ever regret the effort it takes to spend more time with our family. Our kids won’t be with us forever, so we have to create the memories while we can!