Beginning of the Christmas Season

Record Player! Just what I wanted

Well, here we are, the second day into December already. I have a feeling this month will go so fast. Thanksgiving is barely past and my mind is already reeling with things I need to do, lists I need to create, cookies I have to bake, gifts I need to buy, and functions I need to attend. When did Christmas become this huge rush to have more, do more, get more? I wish I could slow it down and forget all the commercialism. Black Friday has become so out of control that people are losing their lives in the mad rush for the latest and greatest! When did it become so important to have instead of to give? When did we lose the meaning of Christmas and is it possible to get it back? Can the children of the technology age be taught that Christmas isn’t about receiving, it’s about what we have been given from Christ himself? 

Yup That's Me - Christmas 19--- Something! LOL

When I was a kid, I remember the excitement of seeing Santa. Every year he came to the local Community Hall on a Saturday afternoon. He would sit up on the stage in a simple folding chair. There were no fancy decorations, no grand displays, and no photographer charging for a memory of the day. The kids and parents mingled and talked as we stood in line waiting our turn. The excitement was palpable! I don’t remember whining or crying from any of us. We were to afraid that Santa would see. The kids would file up the side steps to the stage and when it was our turn, our mom’s would pop off a quick picture while we relayed our requests to Santa. As we exited the stage on the other side, a parent from the community would hand us a brown paper lunch bag with hard ribbon candy, peanuts, a candy cane and maybe an orange or apple. Not only was the line to see Santa simpler, but the gifts we wanted were simpler too. Toy trucks, baby dolls, board games, bicycles, maybe a lite brite or easy bake oven, and on my list there were always books! I think my Mama bought me every Trixie Belden book there was over the years (and there were a LOT). 

Sledding with my Big Brother

Today kids ask for Ipods, cell phones, tablets (and not the paper kind). They ask for compound bows, television, and video games. No more sleds, no more ice skates (though Princess Pea asked for a pair this year), no more Barbies. These items aren’t big enough or cool enough or what the kids think they need to keep up with the kid next door. It makes me so sad to see the simplicity and joy be taken from Christmas. I see kids who are not able to tell you what they received last year because it wasn’t that important, it was just another “thing”.  It makes me sad that society (and my own children) are so materialistic and that family and tradition and time together seems to have gone by the way side. 

Amy and I were the only girls! 

For me, Christmas was a time of events, not just getting gifts. It was caroling with the girl scouts, and not just to the local nursing home. I mean true caroling where we wrapped up in our winter coats and snowpants and boots, stuff hands in mittens and wrapped scarves around and around our necks. Then we would tramp through the snow, from house to house, up and down the streets of town, our breath coming out in trails of steam spiraling up to the clouds, our voices raised as loud as we could so the occupants of the houses could hear us. The singing may not have been good but the cookies and cocoa we received from the kind homeowners sure was! 

So our mom's dressed alike at Christmas (I'm the younger one)

Christmas was also a time of dressing up for the Christmas program, Grandma coming to stay for a couple weeks to make cookies and quilts, and sledding with my uncle and cousins at my grandparents farm. I want so bad to give all this to my kids, but am afraid it is far too late and society can’t be convinced that this type of Christmas, the smaller, homier, scaled back Christmas, is better than the Christmas of today. 
While Christmas of yesterday is a joy to remember, we must also remember that there is a REASON for Christmas and it isn’t gifts, or caroling, or Santa, or cookies. Christ, the Lord and Savior was born to take away the sin of the world so that we can have a relationship with him and enter into the kingdom of Heaven. 

My Brothers and I

Christmas Memories! 

“And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them…And the angel said unto them, Fear not; for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. Fo unto you is born this day, in the city of David, a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord…: Luke 2 :9-11 
This is the meaning of Christmas and I am going to do everything in my power to bring that back into my home this year. Christmas always meant magic....the birth of the Baby Jesus is the most magical of all....

Merry Christmas my Friends....