A New Tradition

Christmas has come and gone at the Garrison home and we hope your celebration was blessed. We had a great time with family and enjoyed having many of them in our home for food and fun. Elijah, of course, had little interest in his gifts and loved the wrapping paper most of all. We tried to find moments to focus on the reason for this special holiday, but it proves to be a challenge every year in the hustle and bustle.

We did begin a new tradition this year that I hope we will continue. This idea is thanks to a Facebook friend who shared it after I asked for ways to make the Christmas holiday more Christ centered. Before Christmas Eve, I asked everyone to prayerfully consider what their gift to Jesus would be this year. What would Jesus want for Christmas? It could be to spend more time with Him in prayer or reading scripture, to forgive someone who has hurt you, to work on some aspect of your life that needs refined, serve more, etc. We each wrote these down, wrapped them in gift boxes they'd been given ahead of time, and brought them to a family meeting after church on Christmas Eve. Each of us then unwrapped our gift and shared what we were going to give Jesus. (It is His birthday, after all!)

It was interesting to hear what our children had chosen as their gifts to Him. It brought me such joy and pride to hear them vowing to love Him more through giving of their resources (time, money), and spending more time with Him in prayer. Each of ours was a little different, but I think we found a theme of wanting to give more of ourselves and spend more time with Him. And that, I think, is what Jesus wants for Christmas!