Keeping Jesus Central at Christmas

Only 26 sleeps until Christmas!  Is the anticipation already building in your home? Are the stockings hung by the chimney with care? Are the halls all decked? Kids tend to have a lot of extra "energy" this time of year, don't they?  :-) "Anticipation" is a word easily associated with Christmas! As we anticipate the arrival of December 25, it's wonderful to have reminders around us that focus on anticipating celebrating the arrival of Jesus, Emmanuel, God with us...the TRUE reason we celebrate in such a large way during this season!  

As you may have realized by now, Ann Voskamp is one of my favorite authors and blog writers. And I want to share a recent post from her with a link to a wonderful (and free!) resource that may very well become a tradition in your family. It's called a "Jesse Tree", and it's a wonderfully symbolic way of focusing on the true meaning of Christmas on a daily basis. Check out this blog post to find a free downloadable booklet that contains daily devotions for your family along with ornaments that can be printed out (in color or black and white so your kids can color them), mounted, and hung on your tree. (Some families even make a special tree just for their Jesse Tree ornaments.)

This is another great opportunity to live out God's command in Deuteronomy 6: "Impress them [God's commandments] on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads.  Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates."