CHRISTmas Celebrations!!!

Merry CHRISTmas!!!

I am so very excited to decorate for the birth of our Savior and King!  We celebrate our friends' and family's birthdays with cake, food, decorations, and gifts, so shouldn't we celebrate King Jesus' birth all the more!

Without the birth of our Savior, whether or not this is the exact day, we could not possibly celebrate His death and resurrection come Easter.  Without a birth, there cannot be a death.  O, Jesus, we thank You and wish You a very Happy Birthday this CHRISTmas day!

As I began with our decorations, I thought about why and what we were putting up all over our house.  We began with the Nativity set.  It is to remind us He came to us in a lowly stable, not normally where a King would be born.  He was surrounded by animals and He had visitors come to celebrate His coming.  A prayer of thanks and gratitude every time we pass the glorious scene.

We have lots of greenery around the house, over windows, around doors, and the CHRISTmas trees.  The greenery used is always evergreens which represents Jesus' Everlasting Life.  His birth, His death, His resurrection was all part of the Heavenly Father's Holy plan to bring us to salvation through His Son, the Messiah, Jesus Christ, and into eternal life with Him.

The red and the gold ribbon, and red and gold ornaments have representations as well.  Red is symbolic of Jesus' shed blood on our, on my behalf, which I could not do myself.  He laid down, He spilled all, He suffered severe loss, the worst when His Father turned His back on Him, and for what, for whom?  For those who continually reject Him, for those who are disobedient to His will, for those He loves with ALL He is.  Forgive Us, O Lord.  
Gold symbolizes His gifts in Heaven awaiting our arrival on the streets of gold He has paved for us.

We have music instruments everywhere and decorate around those, because the angels sing "Holy, Holy, Holy" to the Lamb of God around the Throne.  We love to sing praises to His Name and give Glory to whom Glory is due.

A CHRISTmas, snow-filled, winter wonderland.  So pretty.

The Blood and Eternal Life, yes, oh yes. 

This particular night we had our Care Group over for our CHRISTmas party and fellowship.  We had an absolutely amazing time of praise, worship and fellowship.  Thank You, Father for such good friends!

There was eating and visiting. We always have lots of wonderful food God has provided by our husbands' and our mens' hard labor in providing for their families.

Always wonderful fellowship!

After the meal and some great fellowship, we had the real meal, the breaking of the Bread, and the Cup.  It is always good to have Communion with family and with one another.  As often as you do this, do in remembrance of Me.  Taking Communion in our home with friends and family has been amazing.  

We sit everywhere in our home, but the fellowship is sweet, just look at that face.  Including the little ones in ALL we do teaches them more than they could ever learn turned away from us in their own group.  Jesus said, "Let the little ones come," not "send them away to another room."  Oh, how sweet!

Snowmen - wonderful winter fun!

To throw in some extra, added fun, we played a few games.  One was "Are You Ready for CHRISTmas?" with a prize for the most ready and the least ready.  This was the traditional, cultural, ready with gifts and decorations, not the readiness of our hearts, which we discussed as Steve read a special CHRISTmas story, "What Child is This?" he reads to our family every year since our children were young.  

Traditions are wonderful!  I wouldn't take anything for the wonderful memories and traditions my parents gave us and some we carry on with our children.  Oh, how sad not to have that.

We played the "Right Left Christmas Game Nativity Story," "A Fun White Elephant Gift Exchange Poem," and a CHRISTmas Carol game.  What fun we had!!!  And gifts from one another, oh the joy!!!  We give because He gave, still gives.

Friends for many years, K and K, and actually, their last names are W and W.  Too funny!

Sweet friend, A, with our baby cousin, WW.  Who needs toys, really?  I am learning by watching them, NO ONE really does.

Ages 8 - 20 gathered for some games, and spoons was a specialty.  No injured players, I don't think. *grin*

Don't hurt anyone!

Sweet Fellowship...my dear ladies.

He already sings with us and with the training from his parents, knows when we have our study, the teaching and prayer, and talks and plays more when we finish, and he's only 10 months old!  They learn so very much this way, much more than we as adults give babies, toddlers and children credit for.

Fellow-ship...

Friends, Big W and wife, C with baby W, not theirs, just lovin' on him; who could resist!

My final thoughts on our joyful gift-giving which surround us this season of Joy.  I  love to give gifts, I mean, I really LOVE to give, and as I pondered this, I thought of Jesus' gift to us, salvation, but another gift came to mind, and we read of it in His Love Story to us, His Word, the Bible.  Jesus has gone to Heaven to prepare a place for us, unlike anything we could imagine.  There are streets of gold, a crystal sea, walls of jasper, gates of pearl, and He is creating it for us to live eternally with Him.  My dear Husband said he thinks of gold as something we place a high value on here on earth, and in Heaven it will be something we walk on.  If God is preparing such gifts for us to enjoy for all of eternity, shouldn't we celebrate His Birthday in an extraordinary way?  I want all who come into our home to know Who we worship, Who we adore, and Who we call Jesus Christ, the Lord.

"For unto us a Child is born,

Unto us a Son is given;

And the government will be upon His shoulder.

And His name will be called 

Wonderful,

Counselor,

Mighty God,

Everlasting Father,

Prince of Peace."

Isaiah 9:6

If you have not prepared for the birth of the King, go now, prepare your heart first, then prepare your home and your family for a birthday celebration like no other!   If you were hosting an earthly King, you would make preparations, go, prepare for The Everlasting Father.

I want to thank my parents for giving me the memories of wonderful CHRISTmas pasts, spent with grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, and friends.  So much to be thankful for!

I would love to hear how you celebrate the King!  Send me a comment and tell me about your celebrations!   I love hearing from you!

Always Experiencing Him,
Jody