Tag Archive - Christmas

How to Keep Christmas Real With Only a Charlie Brown Tree

December 23, 2011 in Confessions of a Preacher's Wife with 2 Comments

I’ve been dreaming of a white Christmas for almost half a century. Living here in Texas, I don’t get to hear sleigh bells jingling in the snow. The other night, my girls netflixed Bing Crosby’s White Christmas. I watched it for the first time since I was a teensy thing. All I remembered about the movie was that it began to snow when they sang about their dreams.

Dreaming of a White Christmas

I’ve been singing my dreams for a long time and, well, nothing. No snow. No white Christmas.

White Christmas Wish

The movie is great. I wanted to hug a veteran, dance around the house and forget about all the Christmas dinner and fixings. It seems that back then food wasn’t a main emphasis to those skinny Americans. I don’t remember seeing one Christmas cookie.

Today’s Christmas

Nowadays, Christmas is about

  • stuffing ourselves with rich food,
  • spending next years wages on things that will be trashed in 6 months,
  • and trying to fit family, even the strange and weird ones, into our already busy schedule.

Americans have so outgrown all the old ways characterized by physical work and hardship. Our lives are bent on pleasure and the pursuit of happiness.

Take Black Friday for example. The retailers created a special day for mass frenzy. I chose to leave madness and macing, spraying pepper spray, to the crazies, while I shopped in my pj’s, online. On Amazon, I found a deal on a throwback Atari game consol. A cool present. It will be a Christmas day showdown of Pong, just my brothers and I. I guess we ought to let my little nephew play since it’s his game. Surely I could beat the four year old.

Dreaming of the white square ball bouncing off my white-bar paddle, I waited for delivery confirmation. It didn’t come. I emailed seller via Amazon. No response.

Christmas Frustration

About a week later I received this:

Charlie Brown Christmas Tree

I was infuriated. I spent $65 of my mother’s money buying this cool game console for her to give my nephew for Christmas and instead I received this $10 Charlie Brown tree!! I could’ve pepper sprayed the seller! Amazon’s guarantee made good on the money before I went “postal” in sending anything but steaming e-mails to the seller. If the injustice of it all wasn’t so bad, it’d be hilarious. So now I have a Charlie Brown Christmas tree to show for the meaning of Christmas.

The Real Christmas

I began to question my ability to be happy and merry if everything about Christmas was taken from me and all I had was my relationship with Jesus.

The meaning behind our busy holiday celebrations is lost to us.

  • Some focus on giving, which often is a backhanded way of focusing on getting recognition for our gift giving.
  • Some of us focus on family, eating and gathering together. But what happens when one can’t make it, or is estranged or deceased. Is the meaning of Christmas nil because family isn’t together?

Could Christmas be celebrated without the feasts and wrappings? Or the gifts and trappings? What if we didn’t even have one lonely Christmas ball on a pitiful branch? No family. Nobody. Could we still have Christmas?

Christmas is about hope. Not just a baby in a barn. It’s about rescue, not just a religious holiday. Christmas is a gift. If we stop the shopping, cooking, planning, decorating and eating long enough to accept the gift of Jesus, we find the peace on earth we’ve searched for.

Can we move beyond a religious exercise, into a spiritual relationship? What if all you had was a puny tree? No gifts? No family or friends? How do you keep your focus on the real meaning of Christmas?

This post is part of the Spiritual Journey’s Gentle Nudges Series. If you enjoyed it you may also like the Living and Working on Mission Blog Series, the Insights into Ministry & Leadership Series or the other Blog Series.

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3 Changes to Take the Dread out of Happy Holidays

December 20, 2011 in Confessions of a Preacher's Wife with 3 Comments

In the midst of harried fall and winter celebrations, most people harbor some amount of dread. More than once I was called Scrooge by my kids simply because I didn’t feel like adding all the extra hustle to my bustle. It’s a hassle to put out all that Christmas stuff only to take it down again. Minutes don’t grow on mistletoe. Many, like me, stretch time as it is without adding holiday stress. Somehow, reflection and thankfulness, holiness if you will, gets lost in our expected and celebrated traditions.

Shattered Christmas

Shattered Christmas decoration.

The pressure mounts, as we are forced to be pleasant in situations of strained relationships. A falling out with either a business associate or some family members may make celebrating with them difficult. We all have an odd Uncle Dan hanging out at family gatherings where we just want to get out. Instead we put on a good face and make a first-class show because it’s the expected dreadful experience of the season.

Others simply have nowhere to go to celebrate with anybody. They are alone. Feeling abandoned in an odd sort of way. They dread the Michelangelo’s or Banquet frozen dinners and lifeless Christmas movie viewing. Alone. Again.

A Change of View

As I thought about these dreaded situations, I remembered Jesus’ banquet story. He said a man went to a lot of trouble to get ready for a party and no one really wanted to come. Therefore, he invited the day workers off the corner, the lonely, the drunken castaways and anyone else who just happened by to come to the banquet.

 

Charlie Brown change of view

 

I can see several similarities about this story to my approach to Christmas. First, I see there is much preparation involved in gathering people together. But the point isn’t the preparation, rather, it’s that we set aside time to gather together and reflect on what is holy. I’ve determined that, even with my schedule, I’ll make the food, set the table and get ready to focus on God this season.

Second, I see lots of people who are much like me, way too busy. We often don’t schedule any room for meaningful relationships and have trouble stopping to focus on God’s big picture, to sit at his feet. He’s in control and we need to drop everything and spend time with him at his table. When I stop my busyness, I realize what is really important and what isn’t.

Third, and this may be the most significant; we can be like the man in the story. We can go to great lengths to create an atmosphere for others to celebrate Jesus and then invite them to come to our table. These may be outcasts, people from broken homes, workers who can’t get home, singles with no family or those who feel left out, anyone who will come for a meal and celebrate. We can intentionally set a place for a guest at our celebration in order to give greater meaning to why we celebrate.

Three questions to consider while approaching Christmas.

  1. Am I considering that the point of all the cooking, shopping and decorating is to gather with other people and focus on what is holy? It’s not just about the food, gifts and fun décor.
  2. Am I too busy to develop meaningful relationships, relax and have fun with others? Is work or my schedule keeping me form experiencing the love and peace of God and others?
  3. Have I considered that there are people all around me that have no reason, no relations or no friends to celebrate Christmas with? Would I be willing to invite those that are overlooked to celebrate with me?

The answer to these questions provide for a more meaningful Christmas.

What about you? How are you taking the “dread” out of the “Merry Christmas?”

This post is part of the Spiritual Journey’s Gentle Nudges Series. If you enjoyed it you may also like the Living and Working on Mission Blog Series, the Insights into Ministry & Leadership Series or the other Blog Series.

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Christmas Eve Gift

December 24, 2009 in Confessions of a Preacher's Wife with 1 Comment

I married into a wonderful family.

Oh well, they have their quirks. Like on the first Christmas Eve with them, I was awakened by people yelling at me.

Family fun“Christmas Eve gift!”

“No, I got her first!”

My new husband laughed at my bewilderment then explained the family’s ritual of tagging everyone before they can tag you. You become “it” if you get tagged with, “Christmas Eve gift.” It’s a fun game where the person that gets tagged has to give the one who tagged them an extra Christmas gift. Nothing big, but acknowledgment of the winner is a must.

The game has gotten very competitive at times. Often a phone call in the wee hours of the morning would wake you up with hollering on the other end. Some would not go to sleep until after midnight to make sure they get the Christmas Eve gift. The game isn’t played by children only. Granny wins the prize more often than not. (You ought to see the competitive way Granny hunts eggs at Easter.)

Your Free Gift

Putting family competitiveness aside, I’m pretending you tagged me. I am giving you a Christmas Eve Gift. Please don’t call me in the wee hours of the morning.

Your gift is a copy of “Tips to Keep Your Audience Engaged.” For teachers, leaders and communicators of all kinds, this gift will help get your point across, keep your audience’s attention and make your presentations memorable.

Sign up now for your FREE gift “Tips to Keep Your Audience Engaged.” This link may become defunct in the future and the Christmas Eve Gift may disappear.

Christmas Eve Gift! on you…

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Life Interrupted

December 8, 2009 in Confessions of a Preacher's Wife with 3 Comments

I get aggravated when things don’t go as I plan. Like preparing a meal only to find out that my husband ate the same thing for a business lunch. Or when I’m doing my normal work and difficulties keep making the easy task impossible. Even when I’m expecting and waiting for some great experience, I get irritated when it doesn’t happen on my timetable. Like when I prayed for and got pregnant. I really wanted this child, but it was Labor Day and we had planned a steak dinner. Going into labor was not on the calendar. And Christmas. The extra rush of the season—decorating, cooking, gifting, and partying, just doesn’t fit into my already busy schedule. Surely I’m not alone in my frustration when life is interrupted.

Snow Interrupts Flowering

That’s when I read about three people whose lives were interrupted in a major way.

  • In Luke 1 Zechariah went about his duties as a priest when the angel Gabriel showed up and changed his life forever. He was struck speechless when he questioned God about the promise of a child and because of his doubt he would remain silent until the birth. If I was Zechariah desiring a son, I would be somewhat irritated at the situation surrounding this child and being struck dumb. How could I tell anybody?
  • Elisabeth, his wife, had her life changed as well. Imagine desiring for so long to have a child, and then in old age with a wordless husband, she finds herself pregnant. I’d go into seclusion too.
  • I read further where a young girl’s life took an extreme twist. She was engaged and preparing to be wed, when Gabriel shows up and tells her she would get pregnant and give birth to a special boy—God’s son. Talk about wedding changes. Life interruption!

All throughout the Bible and even today, God interrupts normal lives. I’m glad these ordinary people allowed God’s disruption. Their life intrusion gave me salvation. I will put away my irritations and embrace my life interruptions. Off to celebrate Christmas—the best interruption of all.

What interruptions and irritations can you celebrate this Christmas? Leave a thought or comment.

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Little Made Much

November 13, 2009 in Confessions of a Preacher's Wife with 0 Comments

I sat in the crowd watching this grown man crumble in sobs. Every mark of strength and manhood couldn’t stop his emotion. Captivated by his experience, I and the other 13,000 watching people joined him with wet eyes.

The Moment
Watch this 18-minute video to see if you can resist. The man’s testimony begins around the third minute and consists of a child, now grown man, whose life was changed because someone gave up a few things to make a difference in the world of another. Be sure to watch it to the end so you won’t miss the surprise. It’s worth every second.

Catalyst 2009 Compassion Moment from Catalyst on Vimeo.

Child Sponsored by Compassion International: A Catalyst Conference Moment.

Will you give up a few things to make a huge difference in a child’s world?
Would you sponsor a child?

Christmas Idea:
Instead of Christmas presents to people who already have too much, last year we gave gifts to charities. Read the funny story at The Best Christmas Heifer! One was a Compassion International sponsorship, a gift that gives back all year by giving relationship, letters, and prayers.

May we make a difference in the lives of others like this man.

The Best Christmas Heifer!

December 27, 2008 in Confessions of a Preacher's Wife with 5 Comments

Have you ever received a heifer gift? I did. I didn’t know whether to be offended or not. My brother gave it to me and the whole family laughed hysterically.

History
A little history makes the gift more understandable. Years ago as my creative husband cycled through his affectionate terms for me, he called me his “hot heifer.” Should I’ve been delighted he called me hot? Or punched him for calling me a heifer? My mixed emotion and reaction delighted him so much that name stuck for a while. He used it often and in front of others just to see my reaction again. My brother loved it and kept stirring it up even past my husband’s retiring of said pet name.

That was in the past and I thought gone forever, but my brother drew my name for Christmas. No, he didn’t get me a heifer, nor would that have made it my best Christmas ever. We aren’t so rural to be giving cows for Christmas. Although last year my sweet honey asked for laying hens, and I gave him “two French hens” that really were Rhode Island Reds. Whoohoo, fresh eggs on December 26th.

This Christmas
Instead, this year was almost stress free and definitely more relaxed. Instead of trying to find some gift for loved ones that already have all they need and most all their wants, we opted to try something new. Putting shopping stress behind us, we decided to give to a charity in the name of our loved ones. We spent time looking for a charity that matched the person’s likes, concerns, and personality. Then made the donation and wrote a card describing the charity and why we chose that particular one. It was fun.

For our thirteen year old who eats often, we gave to World Hunger. Our nineteen year old wanted a donation to the Pregnancy Care Center in their honor. Our sixteen year old got fresh water through Thirst No More. Grandmother sat at the computer and helped the three kids pick a Compassion International child to adopt. We now have Alejandro from Peru as a new son. He’s so cute! I gave my brother who plays lots of ball, a donation in his name to Texas Sports Reach, a ministry that goes into prisons, plays softball and shares the gospel with the prisoners. My wonderful husband received a donation in his name to the Ronald McDonald House to help families with very sick children.

Then my brother gave me my card…

Giving a Christmas Cow feeds families

The front of the card had a huge wildebeest-looking, foreign, something-or-other kind of cow on it. A little boy held the beast by a tethered rope at a river. Upon opening the card it read, “In your honor, a gift has been made to Heifer International to help struggling people around the world become self-reliant for food and income.”

Laughter filled the room. Oh my gosh, you’d of thought Jeff Foxworthy just told the best joke ever. Will I ever live that name down? Thanks to the loving men in my life!

We had a great time enjoying one another and escaped all the stress of Christmas shopping. I was amazed at how relaxed Christmas could be. I think we’ve stumbled upon a great tradition for our family.

The Peace Prince

December 30, 2007 in Confessions of a Preacher's Wife with 0 Comments

I’ve got tell you about my God. This is what happens when sickness keeps me from my regular speaking about the greatness of my God. I type it and get it out this way. It is too great to keep inside and must come out some way or another.

My God, He is the Prince of Peace. He came to bring peace, not as the world gives. His peace is unexplainably different. It surpasses comprehension and makes little sense. It is outside of our realm or other worldly. Yet, He came to bring His peace to us in our world.

“Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.” Luke 2:14 records the Christmas angels heralding peace and good will. The angels spoke of the coming of Jesus Christ into our world and of the good news and good will for the people of our world.

But we’ve been around the block enough times to know world peace isn’t here, nor is it just around the corner. Strife and struggles permeate our lives to the point of breaking us. Problems with families, neighbors, and war. Issues with health, wealth, and loved one’s death. Peace in this turmoil? How can it be? The world offers a peace that is absent of dissention, opposition and affliction. If one can catch a moment of the world’s peace, it is a rare and fleeting chance. Life is tough and full of rocky, hard places.

So how can God’s peace have been given but not realized? God has given us peace, but we must accept it, seek it and find it personally for ourselves. In order to realize this other-world kind of peace in the midst of life’s hardships, we must believe the good news of the glad tidings with an invincible faith. A faith that seeks Jesus with everything we have, giving ourselves over to the passion of finding more of Him in every moment of living breath. When we apprehend our Lord as truly ours, we attain the invincible faith that maintains the divine kind of peace no matter what our circumstances may be. This is the kind of faith the saints of old had when horrible tortures of lions, burnings, and atrocities took their lives as God’s peace kept their faith. The same faith and peace Cassie Bernall showed when facing a gunman in Colorado.

The world’s peace is a vapor, but God’s peace has staying power. It is ours for the seeking, ours for the having, ours for the sharing. That is the good news. God came to bring us peace, and we can own it. No one can take it away from us. Peace in my heart. Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.

My God rules!

Uncelebrating Celebration

December 25, 2007 in Confessions of a Preacher's Wife with 0 Comments

Hello beautiful people. I wish you the greatest holydays.

I didn’t feel like celebrating the regular way this year. Things were different. Celebrating with decorations, cooking and eating didn’t appeal to me. Nor could I get into the buying, unwrapping and giving gifts. It was all different this year. It wasn’t because of sickness, although we were under the weather part of the time. It wasn’t because I didn’t have my family with me, I did. I felt different. I even thought it might be a lack of Christmas spirit, that the Ghost of Christmas past might visit me. Scrooge. No, I wasn’t anti-Christmas. Rather I felt less hustle and bustle and filled with more—I don’t know—thought maybe. Yeah, thoughts of the past, the present, and the future, like in Dickens’s Christmas Carol.

I celebrated by thinking of the joy and peace Jesus came to bring us in the midst of our pain and unrest. I celebrated Jesus being in the lives of family and friends, and cherished the thought of His presence in each one of you. I reminisced in my relations with each of you with gladness. And I had peace. All the trappings of this world can vanish like vapor and leave us with nothing before the throne of God, but by Jesus’ peace and joy, united and together we will be. We’ll have each other. I prayed for each one of you to experience the peace and joy that Christ offers all throughout the upcoming year. In Christ, we are victorious! May we see Him as He is.

Blessings upon you and your family,
Robin