Monday, December 13, 2010

Three Gifts

This Christmas I desired to be simple.
At church we have been looking at the Advent Conspiracy, spend less, give more.
I also came across an article in The Old Schoolhouse magazine called " Gifts of Three for Christmas" you can check out the authors blog at acontedtedcommonlife.blogspot.com.
This was it, I knew what our family needed to do.
Now our family has never done the Santa thing. I know sounds odd, but we have no regrets. Our children know that JESUS is real and the reason we celebrate CHRISTmas.

Traditions we have:
Christmas Eve our children receive a new pair of pj's
Kellar reads the Christmas story from Luke 2 when we wake on Christmas morning
I make a Jesus birthday cake (always red velvet, for the blood he shed for us)
If we are home we have sausage casserole for breakfast and lasagna for dinner

So back to our newest tradition.
This year we will each receive 3 gifts. To symbolize the 3 Jesus received from the Wise Men.
The gold gift is the most expensive, what they most desire
Frankincense (a spice burned in the Temple) is a gift to draw the recipient closer to God (book, Bible, CD)
The third gift of myrrh is something to cover the body as myrrh was used as an ointment to cover a dead body.

Our children have taken their wish list and each told us the answer to this question: If you were to only receive 1 gift for Christmas what would it be? Ashleigh said a bed, Elijah a Bible, and Tewodros a DS game

If YOU could only have 1 gift this Christmas what would it be? My prayer would be for each of you who do not know Jesus that you will discover His love this Christmas.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

That is an awesome idea Suzanne. If I could only have one gift for christmas this year it would be..To see Jaime Sandlin Again! that would be the greatest Christmas Ever!!! Love you guys! thank you for all you have done for me this year! Happy Holidays!

Beth said...

Suzanne-Just wanted to drop in an say Merry Christmas. We have been thinking of Ethiopia and all those children lately. My one gift-can it be for everyone to know Jesus? Looking forward to updated photos.