The Best Presents

After a summer with no job, not working a full-time job now, school loans coming up due, and on and on and on, my (Aimee's) Christmas budget is tight.  Actually, tight is still putting it lightly.  It makes for a crushingly-tight Christmas budget.  I have 6 little ones to shop for this Christmas, and while their moms and dads will make sure that they get plenty for Christmas, their Auntie or Nina (depending on which child it is) wants to give them something special, too.  And then there's my brother and his wife and my mom and my grandma and ...

Oh yeah!  There's Jesus!

There really isn't any gift that I can give to Jesus that can ever compare with the gift that He gave us.  But I'll tell you one thing, having less money to spend on gifts makes the gifts that you do purchase more thoughtful and moves your whole Christmas focus from the presents to where it's supposed to be.

The focus belongs on Jesus.  It's not about the presents or the decorations—although those are fun!  The presents and the decorations are symbols to point us in the right direction.  When your focus is in the right place, then having less presents to open on Christmas morning doesn't mean that it will be a less special Christmas.  In fact, it gives my family the chance to make things a little bit more special by filling the time with conversations and songs and stories. 

The best gifts that we can give back to Jesus is to focus on Him and His love.  When we do that then we remember to love our neighbors.  We can donate food or presents to needy families or individuals.  We can teach our children that Christmas isn't about how much you get but about how much you can give.  After all, tomorrow morning there will be hundreds of thousands of families in America alone that will wake up and open tons of presents and then go on to eat a huge meal with their families.  Meanwhile, at the same time tomorrow morning, there will be thousands of families that will wake up and their children will have only one present each or maybe even no presents and they will be happy to have any kind of meal that evening, whether it's with family or not. 

We need to remember the blessings that we have and thank God for them.  We need to review what we have to give and then give generously to those who make it by everyday with little, so that they can have enough.  When this Christmas has passed, I pray that we can keep that generous spirit and continue to remember those who do without out the little luxuries or even simply do without, period.

That's the best gift that we can give to Jesus.  And since it's His birthday we're celebrating, He does deserve a special gift.


Merry Christmas everyone!  We can't wait to hear all about your special Christmas gifts that you were able to give away.