Celebrating a birthday at Christmas time

Yesterday, we celebrated our youngest twin's birthday. I asked them if they liked having their birthday so close to Christmas. And although all the other children agreed that it is perferrable to have their birthday closer to the middle of the year, the two who were celebrating their birthday thought different. They both said that they really enjoyed celebrating their birthday so close to Jesus' birthday (that is: the celebration of it anyway)!

That made me wonder what Jesus is thinking right now. The celebration of His birthday is traditionally on Christmas Day; and yet it really take 2nd or 3rd or last place to all the other celebrations going on at the same time (and I'm not talking about my twin's birthday). Everywhere you look, even before Thanksgiving time, peopel began celebrating this time of year. And outside of some of the music played on a Christian radio station, the celebration of Jesus' birth is somewhat confined inside church walls.

I have noticed that the most popular and even most enjoyable TV movies at this time of year, are all about the power of belief. But, it is not the power of believing in Jesus' birth and what He did for us. It is, of course, the power and importance of believing in Santa Claus, though noone over 8 is actually trying to say that he even exists. How does Jesus feel about this? The celebration of His birth, which changed the world, is overshadowed by a fat, fictional gifter of greed. His gifts are all about filling some temporary desire in us, which will not make us happy for long. Jesus gave the gift of Himself, which can bring eternal life.

Then, I think of Christian homes, including mine. It is pretty easy to conform to the thinking of our world's system, and practically forget about what we are to be celebrating. I find it challenging to keep our family's focus on the right things, and the right person, this time of year. I would be interested in hearing what you do to make sure we are celebrating the birthday of the Savior of the world, most of all. Here are a few things we are doing:

• Attending a church each week that is celebrating Jesus' birth
• Attending a Christmas Eve service that keeps the right focus
• Constantly reminding our children that this is not the time for selfishness or greed; but to give, and to serve others
• Participating in a service project, where we purchased gifts for a needy family and then delivered them personally
• Reading a story, during Advent, each night. This particular story is called Tabitha's Travels, which is the 3rd book in a series we have used the past few years. They are very interesting stories, that tie in fiction with the truth of what happened 2,000 years ago with Jesus' birth. It serves as our family devotional during this time of year
• On Christmas morning, having a time of worship before we open all the gifts

What do you do, to remember the "reason for the season"?