Category Archives: Christmas Posts

Get Ready to Beat Your Drum

Shall I play for you, pa rum pum pum pum,

On my drum?

We all have favorite Christmas songs we love to hear all season… and on the flip side, we all reach out to change the radio station when we hear our least favorite carols (perhaps for the fifth or sixth time).

The Little Drummer Boy hasn’t been one of my favorites. Maybe that’s because it’s not strictly Biblical, or because it’s the story of a child I could no longer identify with… until recently.

During this Christmas season, The Little Drummer Boy has elicited a strangely emotional response in me—even bringing me to tears.

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Open the Stable Door

This is a guest post by my mother, Sharon Kelley. She shared the following as a Mentor Moment for the young mothers of her church. When I read it, I cried. It’s just too good to leave on her hard drive… so I’m sharing it with you. May you open the stable door this Christmas. —Shannon

So how are the Christmas preparations going for you so far? Are the presents bought? Are they wrapped up with a sparkly bow? Are the cookies baked? Is the tree up? Is the house decorated inside and out? Are the Christmas cards in the mailbox, including a bright and happy family letter? Is your blood pressure rising just thinking about all you have yet to do?

In my own life, my little family of three children has grown to three children, three in-law children, and nine grandchildren. That’s a lot of shopping and attending at least nine Christmas school programs, band concerts, piano recitals and a Tae Kwon Do black belt testing thrown in the mix. Bill and I also have responsibilities to help care for Bill’s 91 year old mom and my 98 year old Dad. Wowsa. It’s a lot in December.

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Where is Your Baby Jesus?

“And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.”

Luke 2:12

During the Christmas season when my little Oliver was one year old, I was constantly hunting for the Baby Jesus.

Oliver loved our Fisher Price Nativity—but not the whole set. He ignored the sweet donkey and the sheep. He looked right past Joseph and Mary and the Innkeepers. He went straight for the Baby Jesus.

As the season progressed, I found the figurine in more and more unusual places. In front of the fridge, then behind a chair. On a shelf, or shoved under the couch, or thrown over the baby gate.

I began to worry that Oliver might hide the Baby Jesus somewhere I couldn’t find him. Christmas was coming, and the set would be missing its most important piece! I constantly asked Oliver, “Where’s your Baby Jesus?”

I needn’t have worried, because I found him every time.

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Food Makes Me Happy… Doesn’t It?

Jesus said to them, “Very truly I tell you, it is not Moses who has given you the bread from heaven, but it is my Father who gives you the true bread from heaven.”

—John 6:32

You know how certain phrases become part of a family’s inner language? Someone says something so cute or funny that your family members keep repeating it… until it simply becomes a part of what you say to each other. A unique family saying with a special meaning all its own.

When my little sister was just a few years old, she inadvertently created one of our favorite family sayings. She looked at her dinner plate, heaved a huge sigh of contentment, and said dreamily, “Food makes me happy.”

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More Jesus at Christmas!

Christmastime can give any mom spiritual clutter.

All of the extra holiday to-dos and events—and the feeling of panic that hits us when we realize it’s already December [fill in the date]—can push the Christmas joy right out of our hearts. We hate to admit it, but even wonderful Christian moms like us need to be intentional about keeping our hearts centered on Christ at Christmas!

So this December, clear out some of that spiritual clutter. Plan and prepare ahead as much as possible. Skip “traditions” you don’t even like. Simplify where you can and just do less…but, I also want to challenge you to do more in order to keep the joy of our Savior front and center in your heart.

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Nicholas and the Christ Child

I wrote this story for parents like me who want to share the fun of Santa while making Christmas completely about Jesus. As I’ve said to my own children time and again,

“I don’t know much about Santa; all I know is that he loves Jesus so much that he wants to give presents to kids on His birthday.”

(Please note that this isn’t meant to be historically accurate; it’s just a story.

But there’s plenty of truth in it for me.)

In the weeks following Christ’s birth, the news about the baby King began to spread. The shepherds told everyone they knew, and so others began to visit the newborn babe. They added their own stories to the story of the shepherds, telling all of their neighbors, friends, and acquaintances.

Soon the Good News had spread far and wide and even up into the North Country, where it met the ears of a kind man named Nicholas. Nicholas went home to his wife and told her of the baby who had his own star.

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