Christmas is coming

Emma recently made this creation all on her own as she was caught up with the surrounding decorations in our shopping malls etc. How do we celebrate Christmas, you may wonder? Do we have Santa/Father Christmas? What is the point of it all? Is it just a fun family time?

Christmas is coming and we always enjoy celebrating our Lord's birth as a family at this time of the year. So why don't you take a peek at our new blog "Christmas with Christ" and see what we do at this time of the year. See http://chritmaswithchrist.blogspot.com/ or go to my profile to find my other blogs, actually two of them belong to two of our children.....take a peek. Erica shares her happy birthday yesterday. And Jo our Master Chef is planning to give you some recipes soon!


Here is my first posting!

For many around the world Christmas is not about Christ... Santa, candy, traditional foods, present giving, beautifully decorated trees etc, etc crowd our lives as commercialism takes over in the bid to make more money out of our silly sentimentalism. Many go into debt, feel lonely and despairing at this time of the year. And quite honestly don't get the point of it all because really there is no point to Christmas with these traditions alone.

As for me Christ is central to Christmas- there is no point in Christmas without Christ and that includes not only his birth but gruesome death too! Just as Christ is the pivotal person in History, so too does Christmas pivot around Christ himself.

Christmas came to us when Christians reacted to heathen traditions and celebrations around them and turned around the course of history around by providing an opportunity to celebrate Christ in a special way. At Christmas we remember the birth of Christ.

I know there are Christians these days who won't celebrate Christmas and I can respect that they are uncomfortable with the way in which Christmas came about. But as for me I love any opportunity to indulge in my love for Christ and to encourage my family to do the same. So not only is Christmas for me a time set aside other things and to draw close to God, it is a time for making memories for my family too. My aim is to bring Christ so close to them that when they are adults and away form home they will see something 'Christmassy' and remember Christ. Remember family and love and warmth and celebrate too, yes. But most of all that they would love Christ. And infuse their children's lives with the love of Christ.

Come with us this year and enjoy our journey as we celebrate Christ!