The REAL Reason...

With the deliciousness of December...

The fun baking and cooking...

And visions of sugarplums...

With the frantic race to decorate...

And our cute little elf on the shelf (Mr. Jingles)...

With the hustle and bustle of shopping...

And with the other many distractions of this world, may we all remind each other

and let our children remind us...

about the REAL reason we celebrate this month;

the REAL reason we celebrate this special day in December,

and that really it should be our focus all year long.

Charlotte's illustration above

of the three wise men with gifts (can you see them?),

then a sheep and a cow (she said).

Then Mary on the left with long curled hair,

Joseph on the right (pretty tall) and of course baby Jesus.

I love how happy everyone looks, even the livestock.

My favorite nativity of all,

I brought home from Italy a few summers ago.

I keep this one out all year.

Can you tell I love to collect nativity scenes?

I am guilty of feeling completely overwhelmed almost every December. I bet I am not the only one. I seem to "make time" for the "busy" and often push aside what really matters to get the "busy" done. But having these nativity scenes out all over my home and pictures like the one Charlotte drew are reminders that the "busy" of Christmas is not what is important.

Even a room full of shiny new Christmas gifts won't bring everlasting joy. Once the newness of the gift wears off, the joy starts to fade. Presents get lost; toys break. The truth is, nothing in this earthly life offers unending joy. But the good news is that Jesus Christ does.

Over 2,000 years ago, God promised us a savior.

And in a little town called Bethlehem, God kept his promise...

He sent his son Jesus to save us and teach us how to live.

Although there was no room in the inn that night,

they made room for Jesus...they made it work.

They fit Him in.

I pray that I, that we, will lay down our busy agendas

to make room for Jesus this Christmas.

Are you with me?

xoxo,

C