A Christ-centered Christmas

Christmas was an wonderful day, as I shared in our last post. But the entire season was magical and meaningful! Alyssa anticipated the coming of Santa as most children do, but she also grasped on to story of Christ's birth. Her excitement and love for Jesus Christ's birth is an example for me as well! December came with the passing of Grandpa Nelsen as well as some other unexpected challenges. It may seem awful to have these types of things happen at the holidays, but I am grateful they did.

I was able to see how exciting and wonderful it really is that Jesus was born! Without Him all would be lost. There would be no hope, no eternal life, no peace, no happiness and joy! We would never be able to return to our Heavenly Father, which I am certain is what He wants for us as well as what we decidedly wanted for ourselves before we left His presence and started this crazy journey. Jesus Christ truly is the gift and the reason that we celebrate Christmas. It can be a trite saying at times, but this Christmas I felt it with my entire soul.

Alyssa also made sure we remembered the story of Christ's birth. A hallmark of our Christmas this year has been the reenactment of the nativity story. We have spent more time doing this than I ever thought possible. First Alyssa is Mary and Erik is Joseph and I am the shepherd. Then Alyssa is the shepherd and I am Mary. Then Erik is the wiseman. So it would go for hours if it didn't magically become time to do something else after about the 10th time of acting it out. But there really is something wonderful about how much Alyssa loves the story. She is a child and with all of her child-like love she loves Baby Jesus. She tenderly holds the doll and even pretends to weep when He is born. The story is simple and she understands it.

And Mary pondered all these things in her heart.