Dear Kids: What I want you to remember about Christmas...

Dear Kids,

There's so much I want you to remember about Christmas, about our family traditions, about our beliefs, about what Christmas should be about.  Here are some things I am trying to plant in your memories, hoping they grow and blossom in your hearts until you start sowing new memories in your own families someday...

What I hope you know most of all is that Christmas is about Christ, the Light of the World, sent to save us from the darkness of sin and death!  Christmas is not only a celebration of Christ's birth, but also a reminder to make room in our hearts for Him because He will come again to take those who believe in Him to heaven.  Every year my biggest Christmas wish for you, my children, is for you to give your hearts to Jesus so that we can all be together in Heaven for eternity.

Kids, we hope to teach you that Christmas is NOT about presents and asking a make-believe jolly old man in a red suit for all the toys you want him to bring you from the North Pole.  Our family believes in honoring the real St. Nicholas who loved Jesus so much that he wanted to share that love with everyone through his generosity, especially to the poor and those in need of hope and love.  We don't give you kids toys from Santa; rather we try to teach you who St. Nicholas was and what he believed in.  He believed in Jesus and in sharing Jesus' love with others.  The world wants you to believe that Christmas is about presents and selfish wish-lists, a fallacy that I sometimes fall into each year as I stress about picking the perfect presents for everyone and getting them ordered on time.  Even I need to be reminded of the truth that if we had no presents at all under our Christmas tree, we would still have abundant reason to rejoice:  EMMANUEL--GOD IS WITH US!  Each year I become more and more convicted of this and try to give you less and less presents.  The past few years we have tried to give you only 3 gifts, for that is all that Jesus received on his birthday from the wise men.  If Jesus only got 3 gifts, who are we to expect more?  It's not even our birthday, after all!  Daddy and I are trying to keep the focus on Whose birthday we are celebrating; therefore, each year we gather you around a gift catalog to choose a present for Jesus.  Jesus was poor and loved the poor very much, so we choose a gift for the poorest of the poor.  This year we bought the gift of life-giving water, a water purification system, to a poor family in a faraway country through an organization called Compassion International.  We pray that it brings joy and health to a very special family and that it brought joy to Jesus, the birthday Boy, too.

Each year I want to strive to make Christmas more about giving than getting.  I was so proud of you boys this year as I witnessed you giving away your own money and home-made gifts to your brothers, sneaking your gifts of love inside their stockings when you thought no one was looking.  That warmed my heart more than you can imagine. Deep down though, I know there is so much more we could be doing as a family...baking goodies to bring to neighbors, friends, and strangers in need of some kindness, or visiting nursing homes to bring them joy through our smiles and our music, or inviting a needy family over to share our Christmas meal, or so many more Christ-centered acts of sharing the spirit of Christmas... I am filled with so many good intentions, but so far I have failed at following through...  Perhaps you kids can help me each year to bring some of these ideas to fruition.

Even though Christmas is not about gifts, it was special to see the joy in your faces when you received the small, simple gifts that we gave you.  How thankful I was that your attitudes were not greedy; rather, they were thankful.  Joseph loved the Lord of the Rings piano book, the Christian tie, and the Cardinals shirt that he was given.  Michael loved the robe that mommy made for him, the new Cabrera shirt, and the Cranium Bible Edition board game that he received.  Dominic was delighted in the Perplexus game and the Planes DVD that he got.  Nathanael liked the pizza set, the new castle accessories, and the candy in his stocking.  Isaiah just loved the excitement in the air and the new things to chew on.  You kids didn't receive much, but you were thankful, and that was the greatest gift you could have given me and daddy.

I also want you to remember that Christmas is about family, spending quality time together and just loving each other while doing simple things.  Things like sledding and playing in the snow, driving around town to look at Christmas lights, and just playing games together.  The  family is where we first learn how to love, and then we start sharing that love outside the home.  I know sometimes we drive each other crazy, sometimes there are selfish squabbles and fights, but even those moments can be lessons of learning to die to self in order to serve others, and hopefully we carry those lessons outside our walls...carry Christ outside our home to all other people that cross our paths.

I have to admit that I failed this year to find true Christmas joy because I was wishing that I could be with my parents and my siblings, wishing I could recapture the Christmas memories of my youth, wishing I could receive rather than give.  It took me a couple of days and a lot of tears to realize that I was missing the point of Christmas.  Yes, Christmas is partly about family, but that doesn't mean I need to be surrounded by every single member of my family that I love.  I need to be thankful for the family God has blessed me with both near and far, to find joy in my husband and my beautiful children, to be grateful for the gifts in front of me instead of wishing for things beyond my reach.  Uhg, I'm a slow learner...hopefully, I do better next Christmas in this area.

This Christmas Paul's mom was able to celebrate with us, and what a blessing she was in so many ways!  She brought so much joy to our kids by spending so much quality time with each of them.  She also took loads of stress off my shoulders as she took care of Isaiah non-stop and helped with dishes, cooking, and laundry.  And she gave Paul and I an extra-special present by letting us leave for an over-night romantic getaway in Bozeman!  We spent the day skiing "the Cold Smoke" at Bridger Bowl and spent the evening enjoying a 5-star meal and soaking in our very own jacuzzi.  It was just what our marriage needed and my heart is overflowing with joy and gratitude!  JOY, GRATITUDE and JESUS...that's what Christmas is all about.  Daddy and I hope that we imparting to you the true meaning of Christmas so that you will hold these memories in your heart and live the Christmas message not just once a year, but each and every day in between too.  We love you and wish you many merry Christmases to come!  Thank you for making ours merry--very!