Reflections of Christmas

I love Christmas. I love everything about Christmas, the decorations, the food, the songs, buying gifts for the people I love, and even receiving some myself! This Christmas I am back home in the house I grew up in, and it has brought back lots of happy, family memories. I can't wait for my whole family to gather here again to celebrate. It has been over 2 years since I have seen some of them. I am more excited about that this year then anything else. The gifts are way down on my list this year of what I am looking forward to. As I get older, I realize that family, and memories are way more important then the "stuff" we get. I hope my kids learn that lesson as they grow older as well.

Every year as Christmas approaches I also start to think about the reason we celebrate. The wonderful thing that God did for us. The ultimate gift. That he would humble himself to send his son to be born here on earth. To live as fully God and fully man. It really blows my mind. I have been thinking about Mary a lot this year as well. After becoming a first time mother myself(10 years ago), I can imagine a little more what she went through. Except for the fact that she was a virgin and was actually giving birth to the Savior of the world. I am sure she was scared, as most new mothers are, until that moment when we hold our babies and realize everything is going to be okay, but can you imagine how she felt knowing her baby was the Messiah? Wow. Well, I guess I feel like I am rambling a bit. I hope and pray that you reflect on what Christmas is all about. The whole reason for it, is to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ our King. There is also a great article someone read to me this year called Mary's Reflections by Beth Moore. If you can, take time to read it as well, and let me know what you think!