When is enough enough?

It's happened.  Once again.  Same as it happens this time every year.  I love Christmas.  It's my favorite holiday.  But working in retail really puts it in a different perspective for me.  I work as a vendor for one of the major card companies and every year about this time it hits me and I get a little depressed.  It's because of all the "stuff."  I remember the first year I worked for them and the weeks leading up to Christmas.  I actually thought I may have to quit my job because it was bothering me so much.  I understand the theory behind what they do, but it bothers me never the less.  I know that the more places you have your Christmas items placed throughout the store the better your sales are going to be, but I couldn't help feeling that it was a bit excessive.  I remember setting 24' of Christmas cards the day after Thanksgiving and then having to set up more in the seasonal aisle. Then still more in the "Christmas Shoppe."   More, More, More.   When is enough enough?  Christmas has evolved into such a consumer driven materialistic holiday.  Turn on the TV and you are bombarded with ads aimed at gaining your purchases this year.  We shop for things we don't really need.  More "stuff."  Much of which often get returned anyway. 

The amount of money America spends on Christmas is astounding. 
What America Spends on Christmas

America spends an average of $450 billion a year every Christmas. 10 percent of that is spent on lights and electricity.  We decorate our trees with lights and the outside of our houses with lights when nearly 1/4 of the worlds population doesn't even have access to electricity. It's hard for me to wrap my head around that.  How am I so blessed to have born in a country that is blessed beyond measure when so many in the world have so little? 

I see people with shopping carts loaded to the brim and I am left trying to reconcile the worlds view of Christmas driven by consumerism with the true meaning of Christmas where God became man in the form of tiny baby.  To reconcile the racing, shopping and busyness of Christmas today with the Holy, Sacred, Glorious birth some 2000 years ago in a lowly stable. 

Picture the manger scene for a moment.  Every rendition of the manger scene paints us a picture of peace, tranquility and humbleness.  The lyrics to many Christmas songs also reflect this view...

Silent Night:
Silent Night, Holy Night
All is Calm
All is Bright

It came upon a Midnight Clear:
Peace on earth, goodwill to men
From heavens all gracious King
The world in solemn stillness lay
To hear the angels sing

O little town of Bethlehem:
O little town of Bethlehem,
How still we see thee lie
Above thy deep and dreamless sleep
The silent stars go by;

Hark the heraId angels sing:
Hark the heraId angels sing
Glory to the newborn King
Peace on earth and mercy mild,
God and sinners reconciled

Reflect on your shopping list, card list, baking list or your party list for a moment.  Picture yourself at the mall looking for parking or in the midst of a busy store shopping for one of those presents..  How do you feel? What words come to mind?  Perhaps these are some of the words you thought of:  Hectic, Rushed, Chaotic, Noisy, Busy, Stressed.

Now reflect on the words from the songs mentioned above: 
Peace, Gracious, Solemn Stillness, Angels singing, Still, Silent, Glory, Peace, Mercy, Reconciled. 

Two very different feelings.  Are you experiencing more of the first or the second?

Look with me at another Christmas song.
What Child is This
So bring him incense, gold, and myrrh,
Come, peasant, king, to own him.
The King of kings salvation brings,
Let loving hearts enthrone him.

At the heart of Christmas is LOVE.  God sent his only son because he loved us.

1 John 4:9-10  "This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him."

We exchange gifts with one another as a token of our love.  It is a relection of the wise men bringing gifts to the baby Jesus.  These gifts were given in adoration and worship of the newborn King.

Incense - burnt in worship of God
Gold - symbol a king
Myrrh - a sign of being mortal - used for annointing the dead

On a side note: Did you know that the bible does not say there were 3 wise men? This is something assumed from the fact that 3 gifts were presented to the baby Jesus. (see Matthew 2:11)

 

3 Gifts.  Not carts full of gifts. 

 

In closing, let me bring you back to another Christmas song.  It's one of my favorites.

 

Joy to the World:

Joy to the world

The Lord is come

Let earth receive her King

Let every heart

Prepare Him room.

And heaven and nature sing.

 

This Christmas, in the midst of planning, shopping and baking I pray that you are taking time to prepare your heart.  Preparing room for Jesus.  To consider the wonder of the true meaning of Christmas.   The wonder of that Holy, Sacred, Glorious birth some 2000 years ago in a lowly stable.  I pray you experience more peace and stillness and less noise and stress.


I have linked up with:
A Wise Woman Builds Her Home,  Mercy Inc and Deep Roots at Home

 

 

What God wants for Christmas

It's definitely Christmas season.  Parking is getting harder to find at the stores.  The weekly ads are thicker and longer.  We've got our shopping lists of who we need to buy for and what we want to get them.  I'd be willing to bet that Jesus is not on our shopping lists.  What gift we can give TO Jesus?   I love doing "What God wants for Christmas" with my kids. We have done this every year since they were young and they still enjoy it now that they are older. Our pop-up nativity has to be propped up because the tabs have long since lost their sturdyness, but the message is still the same.

What God wants for Christmas is a boxed kit that comes with a pop-up manger, an illustrated story book and 7 little Christmas boxes. Inside boxes 1-6 are different figurines for the nativity scene. Box #7 reveals what God want from you. After reading the part of the story that corresponds with each box, the child opens that box and places it in the nativity scene. You can do one present a day for 7 days or all in one sitting as a one time event. The story for each character reminds you along the way that in box #7 is a surprise and it's what God Wants for Christmas.
The boxes:

1) Angel

2) Mary

3) Joseph

4) Baby Jesus

5) Shepherd

6) Wise Man

7) Mirror (You)

What God wants for Christmas is YOU!   He wants your heart. He wants you to love Him just as He loves you and to extend that love to others. 

"My son, give me your heart, And let your eyes observe my ways." Proverbs 23:26

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"What can I give Him,
Poor as I am?
If I were a shepherd
I would bring a lamb,
If I were a wise man
I would do my part.
Yet what can I give Him?
Give Him my heart."

by Christina Rossetti

 

For more ideas on remembering the reason for the season read my previous post

Keeping Our Focus On Him


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Keeping Our Focus on Him

Thanksgiving is behind us and most of us are now focused on Christmas.  This coming Sunday marks the 1st Sunday of Advent.

Ad·vent (noun)   The coming or arrival, especially of something extremely important. 

Advent is a time when we prepare our hearts for the coming of something extremely important.  The coming of our savior.  The coming of our king.

This is one of my favorite Christmas pictures.  We have it as an ornament on our tree.  The Kneeling Santa.  This time of year everyone is focused on Santa.    But who is Santa focused on?  Baby Jesus. 

We spend so much time preparing, shopping and choosing the perfect gift for those we love.  We need to remember that Jesus is the greatest gift of all.  The presents we buy will be useful for a time and bring a moment of joy.  Those gifts will eventually be lost, broken, worn out or forgotten.  But the gift of Jesus is forever and His joy is eternal.

John 3:16 "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life." 

It's easy to get caught up with the busyness of Christmas.  We get busy with buying presents, wrapping presents, sending Christmas cards, baking cookies and attending parties.  This list goes on.  But without Christ there is no CHRISTmas. Let's keep our focus on Him.

Here are some suggestions for keeping our focus on Him:

• Do an advent study or family advent activities.  There are many books you can purchase that outline your activities or you can find one on-line.  Good Morning Girls has a free e-book you can download with some fun family activities to do.

•  Do an Advent Wreath.  If the thought of doing a study or activity every night seems too much to handle during this season of your life simply do the wreath.  We eat by dim lights and candle light each night and say a simple prayer relating to which week of Advent we are in.  The kids look forward to this every year now and have fun racing around to dim all the lights when it's time for dinner.

• Relect Him in your decorating.  Display a nativity scene.  If your kids are smaller check out the Little People Nativity.  It's great for kids to play with and act out the story without the worry of them breaking something.  Find a special ornament for the tree that reflects the reason for the season (like the one I mentioned above).  I also like to collect gold cross ornaments for the tree.

• Say Merry Christmas.  It saddens me now that so many people and stores are saying "Happy Holidays."  Be sure to wish them a "Merry Christmas."

• American Family Association produces a Naughty or Nice list of retailers each year. You might want to check the list and see which stores are "Christmas-friendly" in their advertising and which ones are censoring "Christmas."

• Make a birthday cake for Jesus and sing happy birthday to him on Christmas morning.

• Read The Christmas Story as a family before opening presents.  If not reading from the Bible, I like the Little Golden Book version the best.

• Say a prayer before opening presents.  We use this one as our guide before all the excitement of opening the gifts begins:  

Heavenly Father,

We gather surrounded by a wealth of signs, symbols and reminders.

Our home is decorated with signs of joy at the presence of Jesus among us.

Spread at our feet are gifts; symbols of the love we share.

We pray in gratitude for these gifts, and even more for the person giving the gift.

In each gift we see a sign of love.

Love that begins with you and finds it fullest expression in your own greatest gift to us:  your Son, Jesus.  Through him we pray in joy and thanksgiving on this Christmas Day.

• Read Christmas Jars by Jason F. Wright and then bless a random family with a Christmas Jar. The Christmas Jar tradition was started in 2005 by the author and his family. He went on to publish his family's idea in this book which became a New York Times Best Seller and a new Christmas Classic.  This could be a great tradition to start with your family.

• Visit a living nativity scene if you have one in your area or watch The Nativity movie as a family

• Serve as a family.  Ring bells for the salvation army, Select a person from the Angel Tree, participate in a Coat Drive or Mitten Drive

• See a Christmas Play.  Every year our church does a children's production of a Christmas play.  If your church doesn't do this, check other area churches.  I'm sure one in your area will be doing one.

• Consider 3 gifts in relection of the 3 gifts the wise men brought to baby Jesus.  There are many different variations of this.  If you do Santa, you can do 3 from Santa and 3 from family.  Or you can simply do 3 total gifts. 

• Reflect it in your shopping by supporting charity organizations.  There are many different organizations that support different causes.  Choose a cause that stirs something in your heart.  Here's what stirs mine.  Or as a family select a gift to bless someone in need. Here's what we're doing this year. 

However you choose to celebrate this year, keep your focus on Him and have a Merry CHRISTmas!


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Christmas Gifts that Give Back

With Christmas just around the corner most of us will be doing lots of shopping for our friends and family.   Why not shop for something that goes beyond just the gift itself?  There are many organizations and shops whose proceeds go towards helping those in need.  I wanted to highlight some of my favorite that help women and children who have been or are at risk of being trafficked.

WAR Chest Boutique is an arm of Women at Risk International.  Traffic victims are given shelter and care in one of their 5 safe houses and trained with a skill to help them go forward in life.  The items are sold online at their website, but they also have 3 store front locations in Naperville, IL as well as Wyoming and Rockford, MI.  They sell many different types of items, but this is one of my favorites.  A metal engraved bookmark made by a woman in Thailand.   Cost $10

Freeset offers women of the Sonagichi red-light district of Kolkata employment and the opportunity leave a profession they never chose.  Some of the women working there being as young as thirteen.  Freeset sells quality jute bags and organic cotton t-shirts.

Freeset has also teamed up with the MOB Society to offer this cute bag.  With 250 bags purchased, they can rescue FOUR WOMEN out of trafficking and train them for freedom.  These MOB Society bags are especially designed with blue-hued recycled sari’s (the dresses the beautiful women wear.)  Each bag is made by a woman freed from human trafficking. To read more or to purchase one of these bags go Here.


IJM (International Justice Mission) is a human rights agency that brings rescue to victims of slavery, sexual expoitation and other forms of violent oppression. This Christmas CD was written and performed by many of the biggest names in Christian music.   Every CD purchase helps to rescue another victim of Slavery.  Family Christian stores are selling for just $5.   Purchase online here

World Vision is a Christian relief, development and advocacy organization dedicated to working with children, families and communities to overcome poverty and injustice.  As a family you might want to purchase something from their catalog to help victims of human trafficking.  You can read more about that idea in my World Vision Post

Books - Give yourself or someone else the gift of knowledge.  While this subject is a hard one, it is one that needs to be made known.  Sold is the story of what typically happens to young girls living in Nepal who are smuggled into India and sold into prostition.  You can read my review Here or purchase from Amazon.

Half the Sky is a book that has started a whole movement.  It is a passionate call to arms against our era’s most pervasive human rights violation: the oppression of women and girls in the developing world.  Takes on the problems of sex trafficking and forced prostitution, gender-based violence, and maternal mortality. This book has moved many people to action.  Purchase from Amazon.

Do you have a Coffee lover to shop for?  The The Catalyst Foundation works passionately in Vietnam to prevent human trafficking by attacking its root cause - poverty and ignorance. They've teamed up with Vietnamese Coffee  to offer coffee where a portion of the proceeds will be donated directly to this worthy cause.

The Somaly Mam Foundation was Co-founded by sex slavery survivor Somaly Mam who was sold into sex slavery as a young child in Cambodia.  The foundation works to eradicate sex slavery, liberate its victims, and empower survivors to create and sustain lives of dignity. Buy a survivor-made product and help a survivor become financially self-sufficient as she embraces her new life. Wear your heart and hand to reflect your compassion for the enslaved, and your commitment to securing their freedom.



Freedom Firm is dedicated to the liberation of children enslaved in commercial sexual exploitation, to their effective rehabilitation, and to justice against those who have profited from their misery.  They sell beautiful hand-crafted jewelry made by women rescued from prostitution in India. Like this bracelet for $15.  Visit Ruhamah Designs to see more.


Sak Saum is a ministry that offers rescue, rehabilitation and restoration to vulnerable  women who have experienced the devastation of trafficking in Cambodia.  100% of the sales from the online store go back into Sak Saum's ministry budget for salaries, housing, transportation, healthcare, educational opportunities and more.  This super cute Apron Set for Mother and Daughter is $40.  Prices include shipping!

Love 146  works toward the abolition of child trafficking and exploitation through prevention and aftercare. They get their name from the number of a girl being sold in a brothel.  The ID number 146 was pinned to her red dress.  Love146 trains aftercare workers, multiplies safehomes, aids socioeconomic development programs in high risk communities and provides a voice for these victims of modern-day slavery.  For the man in your life, how about this T-shirt with the Martin Luther King quote? $20.

For the person who has everything how about Donating to a Cause in their name?  There are many great organizations out there.  I recently highlighted the work of Ink 180 in this post Here.  They are doing amazing work to help victims of human trafficking.

Or simply shop from a Fair Trade retailer.  I will talk more about Fair Trade in a future post, but here is a quick explanation.  Fair Trade retailers adhere to standards such as those banning child and slave labor and guaranteeing a safe workplace.

Happy Shopping...

I have linked up with Women Livng Well