Merry Christmas

Image by Vainsang via Flickr

Today is Christmas Eve Eve.   This is the day I used to dread.   It was filled with last minute shopping, cleaning, cooking, wrapping, and usually working.   This year its like a bonus!   A day where my calendar only shows a lunch with friends!   A day that my husband took off and we can spend together.  

As I sit here, there is sunshine coming through the door.   Tomorrow there may be snow; hopefully just enough to add to the scenery and not hamper any plans.   I plan to enjoy and reflect and be thankful for some time to spend with those I love.  

In one of my readings it talks about being Home for Christmas, and that home "is meant to be the place where a person receives a love and acceptance they don't have to earn," going on to remind that we must also be the giver of those gifts.   They don't cost money but must come from the heart.

Christmas Jars

Cover of Christmas Jars

A friend shared a book with me, "Christmas Jars" by Jason F Wright and I wanted to pass along the title/author to anyone who might be interested.   A quick but moving read, it helped me to focus back in on the meaning of Christmas.  

There is so much required "getting and giving" going on and I am constantly hearing people complain about having to go shopping, etc.    Christmas shopping is nothing I like to do either;  it has turned into a chore.   Is it my age (lol!) and soon my entire life will be viewed as a series of "chores"??   Or is it because the season is now stretched from Labor Day (just about!) until December 25th?    If you are a planner and start early, then what seems to happen is the wish list changes the closer we get to Christmas and people feel they "HAVE" to go get more.    We are definitely a MORE society.  I can't help but wonder the good that could be done if we all just toned it down a little.

The premise behind the Jars is that you save your "change" (coins mainly!)  for a period before Christmas (could even be all year!).   The money in the Jar then is given anonymously to someone in need.   And, its a someone you FIND - not just given to a charity.  So maybe someone does this just in December and hands the homeless guy on the interstate the money.   Or maybe you save all year and give to a family where illness or job loss has hit hard.   For the giver, its a means to share our excess with those less fortunate right in our own community.   For the recipient,  its an answer to a prayer.   Imagine the gift you would have knowing that YOU were the answer to some one's prayer??