Since declaring myself as a Christian, it has become really important to ensure that myself and my family acknowledge and celebrate Jesus as part of our Traditions.
In reflection on this year’s
Christmas there are 4 key parts that I view as important, which I realise are our key Values of this Season - God, Gratitude, Generosity and Gathering.
GOD - What a fabulous time to
really celebrate our faith, praise our Lord God Heavenly Father, Jesus and Holy
Spirit. From 1 December when we put up
our Christmas Tree, we also display our Nativity Scene in a prominent place in
our home. We also enjoy the Jesse Tree
every night in the lead up to Christmas.
My little girl may not yet understand all of the stories or even want to
sit through the story each night - yet at this stage I focus on the pictures, a
key point of each story and we pray together.
This year it was more rushed than normal, and some nights we didn’t get
to do it, and would catch up the next night - yet God does not call us to be
perfect - God calls us to come as we are and to try - it is enough for me that
my little girl is excited about the Jesse Tree and putting on the ornaments.
We also really enjoy going to
Church on Christmas Eve (actually we really enjoy going to Church all of the
time). We are blessed that we are part
of the Kingsway Community. Christmas Eve
is very special to me as this is when I was baptised last year - and so it has
an extra special meaning for me. We love
singing Carols and worshiping with our Community and I love being inspired by
the message of the Pastor. This year I
loved the message that Christmas has a sense of mystery and a
sense of expectation that something wonderful is going to happen, and that the
true gift of Christmas is a life of abundance through Jesus Christ. I also love his encouragement to let every
heart prepare him room - to make room
for the mystery. How true is this - that
in the busyness of Christmas - in the busyness of life - we need to make room
for Jesus.
One of the highlights this Christmas
has been enjoying seeing Christmas Lights with our girl. We loved that one night we were driving home
and decided to visit a local area. There weren’t a lot
of people there, so we parked the car and walked around together as a
family. I loved the sense of community
in this street, where each home has a red candy cane out the front, showing a
united front. I particularly loved that when
we got to the home in the middle of the culdesac there was a beautiful image of
Jesus, Mary and Joseph. It was also
great talking to the owners of the home who specifically chose the image and
placed it in the centre of their other decorations to reflect the real meaning
of Christmas. On Christmas Eve we also
walked around looking at lights with our nieces - it was really special - a real
sense of community spirit and excitement - and I loved seeing images of Jesus. Inparticular I loved one nativity scene that was displayed out of the front of a
home, showcasing the birth of Jesus.
On Christmas Day we definitely remind
our little girl about Jesus being the gift of Christmas and that it is Jesus’
Birthday - even though it I am the Spiritual Leader in our family, it was my
Husband who started singing “Happy Birthday” to Jesus with our girl - this was
special.
GRATITUDE - Gratitude is one of
our Family Values and I am grateful that I am naturally a grateful person.
a
Christmas time is definitely for me a time to
be grateful - grateful to our Heavenly Father for the gift of Jesus who was
born on Christmas Day. We are also grateful
to God for our blessings at this time of year - especially in view of the local
disaster at Kurnell, fires in Melbourne and global events for which we pray. I am also so grateful to my loved ones - my Husband
for always being so thoughtful, my little girl who fills our heart and home
with joy, and also for my Mum and Dad and Mother-In-Law for all they do to help
me with our little girl. I am also very
grateful to our Church Community and to our Lifegroup - grateful to be able to
share our faith and celebrate together.
GENEROSITY - Being generous at
Christmas is really important to us. We feel
called to be generous as part of our faith.
Usually we like to put a whole hamper together and gift to one family - yet
this year it has been such a blessing where we have been able to contribute as
part of a community - where we have been able to donate to three different hampers
and also give some money to help another woman in our community. It felt good to be able to give and we want
to model this to our children.
It can be
a difficult time trying to balance the budget, with so many outgoings and often
I wish we could give more. Yet I am reminded
of the story in the Bible, about the widow’s offering, Mark 12:41-44 - “ Jesus
sat down opposite the place where the offerings were put and watched the crowd
putting their money into the temple treasury.
Many rich people threw in large amounts.
But a poor widow came and put in two very small copper coins, worth only
a few cents. Calling his disciples to
him, Jesus said, ‘Truly I tell you, this poor widow has put more into the
treasury than all the others. They all
gave out of their wealth; but she, out of her poverty, put in everything - all
she had to live on.’ ”
I remember a time, that seemed a
long time ago, when I had a big fancy job and earned a lot of money - I seemed
to have a lot more money where I could be very generous. Yet as Jesus illustrates to us, it is not
about comparison - it is about being generous with what we can give, and there
is definitely a place for giving to those less fortunate than ourselves.
We also love giving gifts to each
other - gifts to our girl, plus my Husband and I exchange gifts and we love to
buy for our family.
Although we are a Christian
Family we are happy for our little girl to have photos with Santa and get
presents from Santa (as well as from Mummy and Daddy). We loved that at the Children’s Christmas
Service at our Church one of the symbols that was mentioned was Santa, where
Santa was referred to as a symbol of
generosity. This almost gave me
permission for our girl to wear a reindeer t-shirt on Christmas Eve with Merry
Christmas written on it - even though I did buy a tshirt with a nativity scene
on it, that ended up being too big for her.
I also enjoyed reading about the man behind the story of Father
Christmas or Santa Claus. "St. Nicholas
was a Bishop who lived in the fourth century in a place called Myra in Asia
Minor (now called Turkey). He was a very
rich man because his parents died when he was young and left him a lot of
money. He was also a very kind man and
had a reputation for helping the poor and giving secret gifts to people who
needed it. There are several legends about St. Nicholas. The most famous story about St. Nicholas
tells how the custom of hanging up stockings to get presents in first started!
It goes like this: There was a poor man
who had three daughters. He was so poor,
he did not have enough money for a dowry, so his daughters couldn't get
married. One night, Nicholas secretly
dropped a bag of gold down the chimney and into the house (This meant that the
oldest daughter was then able to be married).
The bag fell into a stocking that had been hung by the fire to dry! This was repeated later with the second
daughter. Finally, determined to
discover the person who had given him the money, the father secretly hid by the
fire every evening until he caught Nicholas dropping in a bag of gold. Nicholas begged the man to not tell anyone
what he had done, because he did not want to bring attention to himself. But soon the news got out and when anyone
received a secret gift, it was thought that maybe it was from Nicholas. Because of his kindness Nicholas was made a
Saint."
GATHERING - Gathering together at
Christmas with our extended family is a definite highlight. We love Christmas morning where we firstly
gather as a family to exchange gifts. We
love the excitement and joy this time brings, and it is really special having
this time together. We then have time
with both sides of our family - gathering at lunchtime on Christmas Day with
one side of the family and gathering on Boxing Day with the other side of the
family. It is a great time, where we enjoy
giving to each other, sharing great food, conversation and laughter. We are blessed.
While Christmas may be over, it is
important for us to remember that the gift of Jesus Christ is with us every day
- that we make a daily choice to allow Jesus into our hearts and that through
Jesus we can experience true joy and true peace.
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