My heart..

Let us remember that the Christmas heart is a giving heart, a wide open heart that thinks of others first. The birth of the baby Jesus stands as the most significant event in all history, because it has meant the pouring into a sick world of the healing medicine of love which has transformed all manner of hearts for almost two thousand years... Underneath all the bulging bundles is this beating Christmas heart.
-- George Mathhew Adam

I struggle a little with Christmas this year.

Because with all the excitement of the Christmas season..

All the decorations..

The gifts..

The tree.

I struggle because I want..

Or more accurately, need my children to understand..

that even though all these things are lovely and fine..

the most wonderful thing..

something more remarkable than a man in a red suit..

or a tree adorned in in sparkly ornaments..

Or the ground that is blanketed in snow..

That Love was given at Christmas..

That a Saviour came when He didn't have to..

That God became man because He loved us..

I love the decorations and the snow,

but my hearts desire is that my children will learn the real meaning of Christmas,

and that they will realize that that meaning is far more exciting than any tradition we may have.

I hope they learn not only to love Christmas,

But to love the Christ of Christmas..

Such a big responsibility.