It's the small things...

It's the small things that make a big difference. It's taking the time to look at the details and asking yourself is God in the small stuff of my life. Does he or whatever values you hold too show in the small decisions you make?

In a perfect world our gifts would be gifts of time and charity. There would be no need for fancy presentations because the gift would be relational in nature or it would carry with it the beauty of God's love. However the reality is that we are accustomed to giving and will continue to do so. It's a small way that us imperfect humans show love to one another.

So that being said; what are the small details during the holiday season? One is the way we present our gifts.

• Could we choose to skip gift wrap so that we show our care for the earth and by doing so also make a difference with the money saved? For instance taking the money we spend on gift wrap and donating it to charity.
• Could we choose to wrap our gifts with recycled items (ie. paper bags, newspapers, old maps)? Then once again we would be saving money and helping the enviroment?
• Could we make the wrap a part of the present? Such as wrapping gifts in dishtowels or washclothes.
• Could we choose to buy recycled gift wrap?
• Could we choose to buy cheaper gift wrap and donate the difference to charity? 

God is in the small things. Our spending shows the condition of our heart. So with this small detail, gift wrap, you can make an impact in the world. One such impact is buying gift wrap that gives a percentage of it's proceeds to a charitable organization. In fact I just noticed that Dollar General is carrying gift wrap that is decorated with drawings done by the patients of St. Jude Children's Hospital and 40% of the purchase price goes directly to the hospital. It also can usually be found at Wal-Marts and Target. True...  it might not be the largest amount, but its a small light in a dark world.

Putting things in perspective...

I started this blog with good intentions. I wanted to share the joy of Christ and encourage others to celebrate Christmas fully. However I'm feeling guilty because I feel the endless organizing could be the one thing that distracts the most from the holiday. Planning is important, but is planning the best Christmas for your family excactly what God had in mine when he sent his son. My heart says, "No."

These small traditions were meant to bring my family closer to Christ and for the most part they do just that. However I dont want to replace one form of consumerism with another. I guess my hope was that if I could take the focus off the gifts than I could make the focus Jesus. Yet I worry that I have just traded one evil for another.

You see the picture of my family snug in their pajamas driving in our SUV to look at Christmas lights is starting to bother me. Although it is a very special time for our family, but lately it seems God is expanding my vision. He has given me a vision of the poor, the needy and the lost. He has made me want to look outside these four walls and celebrate our Christmas in a way that honors the heart of God. Afterall God's heart is with the poor, the widowed, the orphaned, and the lost. I want to be where God is and God is not in our celebrations. He is on the streets with those that are suffering the most.

The babe in the manger is crying out for justice. The question is.... "Will I listen?"

100 days and counting.....

We are well under way with our Christmas planning. Well somewhat. So far I have managed to...

1. Put myself in the fall, Halloween, Thanksgiving & Christmas spirit.
2. Avoided a whole lot of everyday living by making a new blog... WELCOME!
3. Made a list of everyone I need to send a card too or make a gift for.
4. Filled in some of my advent list
5. Cleaned off my front porch
6. Organized a notebook for Christmas planning
7. Spent time pondering the true meaning of Christmas

Did you get the last one? Well if you didnt. Let me state why I am planning 100 days in advance of Christmas. I want to have more time for Jesus. I want to awake everyday during advent and spend time in his prescence. I want to center our homeschooling around the Christmas story during the month of December. I want to center our lives around that. I want more of him more than I want a perfect Christmas. Honestly we are simple folk. I long ago minimized my stress over Christmas & chose to worship Christ instead of  commercialization which is why Im wanting to give back. I want to share that with others. Thats you.  I want you to know there is more to Christmas than gift buying, gift wrapping & gift giving. I want you to share it with your kids. I want you to take it into your heart and live it out in your daily lives and if that means you put all the planning aside and just plainly let him in well then do it. Do it now so that when Christmas comes around than you will understand why it is we celebrate Christ birth. You will understand the greatest gift ever given. You see "Christmas began in the heart of God, but it is only complete when it reaches the heart of man." (author unknown)

Never to early...

In the past few years I have found some new traditions to add to our families Christmas plans.

We do "Advent" with gusto, doing daily activites that are fun or charitable. The kids have learned that advent is a time of excitement & joy which is the purpose for which it was made. We are living expectact lives waiting for the day that our saviour returns. However in the meantime we are living with the joy that comes from knowing he is already more than enough right now.

We do secret Santa drive bys on St. Nicholas day leaving goodies behind & laughing our heads off as we try not to get caught. We also get an early visit from Santa's elves while we are out doing the secret santa thing. Amazingly the kids always come home to their stocking filled with Christmas goodies in exchange for the letters they wrote. Of course it is always filled again on Christmas morning.

We read scripture almost daily. We do camp outs by the Christmas tree. We go looking at Christmas lights in our p.j.s with hot cocoa to keep us warm. We celebrate the first day of winter by driving up to Sharps ridge, watching the sunrise while toasting in the risen sun & son with o.j. We go caroling with friends. We do winter hikes while it snows. We make birthday cards for Jesus & tape them to our windows Christmas eve. We enjoy each other fully. In fact the kids are more excited about the season than they are Christmas morning which was what I wanted all along.

Of course all this takes a little planning as any mom out there knows. For me I have just replaced most of the gift shopping with gifts of memory instead. Still it takes a little work, but I make sure to go to the source of my joy everyday to keep things in perspective. That is the number one thing when planning a wonderful Christmas. The number two thing is organization. Keep things simple & well organized. Typically well organized is not in my vocabulary, but this year I have found a wonderful site, Organized Christmas, to start my Christmas planning. By the way, yes I know its August, but the key to simplifying is avoiding procrastination. Typically being rushed to finish something just leads to being stressed which I prefer to avoid if at all possible. Yesterday I managed to put together a holiday grand plan notebook thanks to the printables they have on the website. Now Im off to go to enjoy the last of the summer fun, because nothing says Christmas planning like sitting poolside. Merry Christmas Planning!