we had a smaller christmas this year. this meant less to wrap and i didn’t have to stay up really late playing santa claus! Christmas morning before opening presents we read the story of Jesus’ birth from the Bible! It was so great! New tradition! We also bought a gift for three children for Christmas Wishes.

We, too, have scaled back. Fewer gifts, more focus on faith, family, and friends. This year marks our second annual Christmas Day open house. It was a decision we made last year…to stop with the stressful running from house to house, trying to please everyone by being at the “right” place at the right time. So, we now spend quality family time on Christmas Eve, including church service. On Christmas Day, we relax and enjoy the immediate family, then open our home to anyone who wants to enjoy casual fellowship. Wear your PJs if you wish. Bring a dish if you wish, but don’t make that stop you from coming if you can’t bring food. No gift exchange. Just visiting, playing games, listening to music, eating… Stay as little or as much as you wish.

When we did this last year, I told myself (more like had to train myself) to not stress over how perfect the house was, etc. I had one of the best, least stressful Christmases ever! This year is the same. I’m not stressing about the food nor the house. Just eagerly awaiting guests to visit with.

My wife and daughters gave me a Chinese food takeout box stuffed with “365 Reasons Why We Love You” notes inside. Hands down, it beat everything else I received this year.

Spent my first evening at downtown homeless shelter this Tuesday (12/22). Great experience. They all thanked us and even clapped as we left! One of the guys thanked me very sincerely and told me this was the highlight of his day. Want to go regularly.

This year in honor of a C2 Christmas, I made some very special cookies for my wonderful volunteers instead of buying them something. Enclosed in my special cookies was a story behind their significance and the recipe for them to make their own. I let them know what a blessing they were to me and how very special they were.

Never enough lights!

It’s still not too late in the season to try a “this!” Last night could have been hectic. We could have decided to squeeze in last-minute shopping. We might have become isolated in our own home silos with Nintendo DSs, computer games, movies, wrapping and furious house cleaning. INSTEAD, we joined with friends, took some simple groceries along, and had a lovely, simple, low-key and inexpensive dinner. Our kids played. (And complained, but hey! It’s parenting!) We visited and laughed bunches! Then we took a drive to neverenoughlights.com. It’s in our own backyard! My sister-friend and I squealed like teenagers when the brightest lights struck during a Trans Siberian Orchestra number. All of that fun, and the house was collecting cash for a local food pantry. My husband and I capped off the night with a long, peaceful rest on the couch in front of our hodge-podge Christmas tree, decorated almost entirely by the kids. How blessed we are, and how thankful I am to be filled with His peace.

Last night I had some friends come over for dinner and then we went caroling around my neighborhood. I have several elderly neighbors and 2 that are terminally ill. It was so heart warming to see them light up when they answered their door and there we were singing for them. One of my friends commented that we should do this annually. We will definitely do it again, because it was awesome. The most touching moment was when my 93 year old neighbor started to cry. The whole group was teary eyed by then.

Thinking back to my childhood, I can’t remember what I got under the tree… What do I remember? On Christmas Eve the neighbors would gather in our driveway with saved milkjugs. We made luminaries out of them and placed them around the street to celebrate the birth of Jesus. I remember driving around the subdivisions with my parents looking at Christmas lights and listening to Christmas carols. I remember Christmas Eve Mass, singing in the childrens Christmas Choir…… Last year we bought everything under the sun for our two children and they don’t remember it! This year we have spent more time doing things together such as looking at the lights, walking around old town St. Charles, etc… Afterall, I have a good feeling that in years to come my children too will remember what they did around Christmas, not what they got.

I’m an only child, and when I was 22 years old my parents decided to divorce. Ever since my holidays have been horribly emotional for me trying to please everyone. Be there, go there, do this, do that…But it never failed, I always managed to upset someone because I couldn’t be there or do this as they wanted me too. Both my parents have since remarried, which only more complicated the situation with new step-parents, step-brothers/sisters, step-grandparents. All along, although I gained so much family I couldn’t have felt more alone then ever. I have never felt like I fit in anywhere. Every year, I dread the holidays and wish they would just pass by without me having to live through them. So, this year, instead of trying to please everyone, I said – what do I want MY holiday to be? And I’m happy to say, I’ve setup healthy boundaries with family members that continually bring me down and make me feel bad. I’m going one place this year and I have never felt so much peace at a holiday. I now know, that no matter what I do, I will never meet the expectations of my family. For once, I do not feel guilty about that. I feel empowered that I can experience the stillness, the calmness, and the peace of Christmas. A weight has been lifted off my shoulders, and its all the works of God in my life this year that has brought me to this realization. God is so amazing, and when everyone in my life beats me down, God builds me up!

If you’re looking for something unique to do, check out http://www.rainbownetwork.org! This is a Nicaragua ministry that is rebuilding the poorest communities and helping them to grow their own economy! Every dollar is used to the max!

We decided this year that we didn’t want to ‘trade’ gifts–the tit for tat kind of thing. I told our daughter that it was not necessary for them to give us any kind of gift. They couldn’t afford it and we didn’t need it. She didn’t feel that was right because they were giving a gift to her in-laws. I mentioned to her the need for the Christmas Wish fund and she asked if I minded her giving our gift money toward that. I said, “Perfect!”

Our family always adopts families or children from MSC and our adult children always take one on the list and have the best time buying for thier child. We appreciate everyone at MSC that takes the time out of thier day to make sure that families like ours has people we can help, especially at this time of year. We are also going to change some of our holiday traditions this year and have our christmas presents on the twenty-fourth and on Christmas Day we will be hosting a birthday party for Jesus. Our three year old granddaughter is so excited (as most will know the life of a three year old is that it is her birthday also), it is so cute. We will upload pictures of our party after the new year and let you all know how it went. Merry Christmas to all and God Bless your families as we pray daily for our MSC families and extended families.

Last Friday at work we had our annual Christmas luncheon. Prior to the luncheon we all received our Christmas bonuses and my staff all pulled together and gave me $50.00 cash to used towards a Costco membership. (I have been talking about doing it for two years…lol) Well, after having had time to reflect on it and giving it more thought I decided to “re-gift” the money. I feel so fortunate to be working for a stable growing company in this poor economy and when many are out of work and not knowing how to pay the bills, etc. I donated the $50.00 to MSC and have decided to use part of my bonus money to purchase blankets for our homeless outreach. I also have 3 children and am going to “re-gift” one of their gifts to one of our ministries in the form of a donation as well. They will get a card exlaining the donation Yea they might each get one less gift, but it’s not about “stuff” its about Jesus! I want them to learn that you can’t have CHRISTmas without CHRIST!

Instead of buying a useless funny white elephant gift for my extended family Christmas celebration, I bought a chicken from World Vision (www.worldvision.org). So one of my lucky family members will get to give a chicken to someone who needs protein and extra cash to buy basics (from the unused eggs). Now that is a useless gift I’d love to get…:)

I have five staff members who report to me and we typically do lunch at a local restaurant for a small Christmas celebration. In the past, they have all chipped in and put together a gift basket for me. I told them in our staff meeting last week that as much as I appreciate the thought and the gesture, I would like to discontinue that practice this year and instead have them spend that money on helping someone out – the Salvation Army bellringers or other local charity – or to spend some additional time with family and loved ones. They were resistant, saying that they wanted to get me something. I told them that the greatest gift a leader can receive is talented and dedicated staff who bust their tails day in and day out to do an amazing job. I told them that was their gift to me all year long and how much I appreciated it everything that they do not just for our organization but for me as well. They didn’t say a word and I moved on to the next item on our meeting agenda. I am truly blessed.

My sister always limits her children’s presents to three at Christmas. Jesus got three from the wisemen for his birthday. I am adopting this strategy for my children.

Every year our family makes Christmas cookies and this year we decided to send the cookies to a solider in Iraq.

This week’s message about peace really got to me. I’ve been trying to commit myself to reading the Bible more, but it keeps getting pushed aside, and to be honest, I’ve been using the busyness of the season as an excuse. Instead of trying to get one more (probably useless) holiday-related thing done each night, I’m going to use that time to read from the Bible. I hope I can return my focus back to the real reason for the season, which truly is stress-free and filled with peace.