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It is Christmas! Well almost; it is Christmas Eve. The culmination of the Christmas season is upon us. Hopefully, your shopping is completed, decorations up, and you are ready to spend time with loved ones sipping your favorite holiday beverage. Since Christmas falls on a Sunday this year, perhaps by attending worship we will focus on the reason for the season — the baby Jesus.
Christians know Christmas is the celebration of Jesus' birth. Yet, too often we are afflicted by the seasonal anxiety to find the perfect gift while bound by a recession-induced budget. We want our children to have wonderful memories of Christmas, so we organize Nutcracker outings, light tours, ice-skating parties or carousel rides. While all these activities are well-intentioned, none of them focuses on the Christ child.
Once we get overwhelmed by the mall traffic, television commercials and online ads, then we take a deep breath and remember the simple message of Christmas and God's abundant love.
Source: The Seattle Times