the truth about Christmas

God so loved us that for our sakes he,
through whom time was made, was made in time;
older by eternity than the world itself,
he became younger in age than many of his servants in the world;
God, who made man, was made man;
he was given existence by a mother
whom he brought into existence;
he was carried in hands which he formed;
he was nursed at breasts which he filled;
he cried like a baby in the manger in speechless infancy-
this Word
without which human eloquence is speechless.

(Augustine)

the best birthday gift

So we picked out our birthday gifts for Jesus last night, and it was great to talk with the kids about why Jesus came and what kind of gifts he would like. They insisted that he would really want a picture, so they're drawing pictures to put under our tree of the gifts we're giving.

But just a few minutes ago I realized that at midnight last night, as I watched our dear friends exit the airport terminal with their two new beautiful daughters, I witnessed one of the best gifts anyone could ever give Jesus. What a privilege for Peter and I to be present for the homecoming of two girls who will know the love and care of a family this Christmas and forever. I'm feeling a little teary and overwhelmed by it right now (and I'm sure sleep deprivation plays in a bit), but I just know that Jesus is seriously enjoying his birthday present.

Honoring Christmas: gifts for the birthday boy

As mentioned in my previous post, we want our kids to understand that Christmas is about Jesus. It's his birthday. Kids may not have the capacity to fully understand the implications of Christ's birth, but they definitely understand birthdays. Yummy food, lots of fun, and... gifts!

I don't know why I never thought of this before, but I was reading a blog about another family's Christmas traditions this week and adjusted their ideas to suit our situation. So tonight after dinner we're going to pick a gift for baby Jesus. We're going to talk about what Jesus would really want for Christmas and then pick a gift that we can put under the Christmas tree for him. We could summarize by saying that Jesus would want world peace (along with every stereotyped beauty contest competitor), but that's not in our budget. Instead we're going to try to come up with a gift that encapsulates one piece of his love for the world and the reason he was born. Maybe we'll show love to an orphan living with HIV. Maybe we'll help a Worldlink missionary share God's love or send a homeless kid to camp. Maybe we'll fund an orphan's education for a month. Maybe we'll bless a family in Asia with warm blankets or an animal that will give them new opportunities. Maybe we'll give the gift of clean water. Or maybe our kids will have an even better plan. Once we all agree on a gift, we'll take something that represents it and wrap it up together.

Our family has already chosen to give in different ways throughout the year and this Christmas season, but I think choosing a gift for Jesus and symbolically placing it under the tree is an incredible way to honor his birthday. At this point in the season, it would be easy to say that we don't have time to research another project or money to buy something else, but then I look around at the time and money we have spent on gifts for our families and celebratory food and festive decorations and think, does it make any sense to say I can't do one small thing for the guest of honor at this week's party?

I don't know if this idea will excite any of you the way it did me, but I figured it was worth sharing. Better late than never, right?

Our Christmas festivities start tomorrow, but I've already scheduled several random posts to go up over the next few days. Then sometime after the weekend I'm going to post a final post for this series and share what worked well for us and what didn't this year. I hope you'll come back for the conclusion.

Previous Posts
Honoring Christmas: a series
Honoring Christmas: the hard work
Honoring Christmas: advent
Honoring Christmas: giving better gifts
Honoring Christmas: the cards are coming
Honoring Christmas: a baby is born

Honoring Christmas: a baby is born

So this is it. It's Christmas week. All the shopping and baking and singing and partying and wrapping are because of this week. And this week is about one tiny baby. Except many times Christmas week doesn't feel like it's really about that baby. It's an incredibly fun week, and we're thankful he was born so we can enjoy it. But he's not really a big part of our activities except for the hour or so many of us spend at church on Christmas Eve.

We've made a big deal with our kids about Christmas being Jesus' birthday. We have a nativity set that doesn't have Jesus attached to the manger, and we don't put Jesus in when we set it up. The kids know it's because he won't be born until Christmas. As Christmas morning gets closer, they check the manger for him (while I remind myself where I hid him). After they are in bed on Christmas Eve, Jesus is miraculously born and laid in the manger. So far he has been the first thing they look for every Christmas morning. I don't know about you, but I personally prefer to have my kids running downstairs to look for baby Jesus than running to see all the stuff that's under the tree.

The other way we've honored Jesus' birthday is by singing "Happy Birthday" to Jesus at Christmas breakfast. We put a candle in whatever we're eating... a muffin, a sticky bun... and we sing. Then everyone blows out the candle on Jesus' behalf. It's fun, and it reminds us all why we're celebrating.

But my absolute favorite way to celebrate Jesus' birthday is something we've never done before. In fact, I just read about the idea tonight, and we've already decided to do it this year because it's such a great idea. So tomorrow I'll share with you our very exciting new family tradition that allows us to honor the baby born to change the world.


Previous Posts
Honoring Christmas: a series
Honoring Christmas: the hard work
Honoring Christmas: advent
Honoring Christmas: giving better gifts
Honoring Christmas: the cards are coming

this time I mean it

OK, so I way overestimated myself last Sunday when I said I'd be back to blogging. I was in a fog most of the past week, as life has been quite a roller coaster lately. I'm hoping that you'll forgive me for my absence if I post a few pictures of our cute kids playing in the snow, and then we'll try again tomorrow. Really. I promise. And it will be good because I'm going to tell you about some of our favorite parts of our Christmas celebration.

an unplanned blogging break

My blog counter tells me that some of you were expecting some blog posts this past week. I was expecting to write some posts this past week, but life doesn't always work the way we expect. On Tuesday I finally succumbed to the illness that had been trying to take hold, and I had a few unpleasant days. It's mostly over, though my voice hasn't returned yet. Peter's grandmother was admitted to the hospital this week, which means he has spent quite a few hours driving to and from the hospital and visiting her. We'd appreciate your prayers for her, as it looks like she's unlikely to make it home before Christmas. Between hospital trips and putting in a 12 hour day Saturday for Worldlink, I've been feeling the stress of being home with 3 kids who are "in a stage." Throw a few more unexpected thing in the mix, and the week was over. But tomorrow's a new day. One in which I plan to get back on track with much of my life, including blogging. I won't promise, because that's a dangerous thing to do, but I am hopeful.

alternative gift market

Tomorrow we will be at the Alternative Gift Market at the Plymouth Meeting Mall from 4:30-7:30pm. If you're in the area, please consider coming out to support this great event in its first year. There will be cookies and shopping and kids' crafts and coffee and 5 Bowersoxes who would love to see you.

Honoring Christmas: the cards are coming

We received our first 2 Christmas cards in the mail today, so I thought tonight would be a good time to change my intended order of posts and share a Christmas tradition we started 2 years ago.

Those of you who send Christmas cards know it can be time consuming to send out a stack of cards, even if all you do is sign your name or write the address. If you compose a family newsletter or write personal notes, it's a huge task. The year our kids came home, I was so frazzled that I was barely even looking at the cards as they came in. It bothered me that I wasn't acknowledging the effort and expense that went into each greeting, so Peter and I figured out a new plan that we really like.

When we get a card or letter, we set it aside. After dinner each night we sit around the table and read the ones that have come in. Then we take time to pray for the people who sent them. If we know specific needs, we pray specifically. If we don't, we just pray a general blessing. Later the photos go on the fridge and all other cards are hung in the living room to beautify our Christmas season.

The whole process only adds a few minutes to our dinner time, but it's good to read the cards and talk about our friends and family together. And we're assuming no one minds being prayed for.

Previous Posts
Honoring Christmas: a series
Honoring Christmas: the hard work
Honoring Christmas: advent
Honoring Christmas: giving better gifts

Honoring Christmas: giving better gifts

I'm back, and I'm certain some of you are wondering why I didn't post about gift giving before Black Friday and Cyber Monday. The answer is simple: I was busy with Thanksgiving family fun, and I'm not that organized. Until such a time as I get paid to blog, please keep your expectations very low.

But Advent has started, and Christmas has now captured the attention of nearly everyone. We have 24 days to finish getting ready, and I'm guessing that gift shopping is high on the to do list for many of us. As for me, I'm a fan of giving and receiving Christmas gifts. There are those people that are difficult to buy for, and I'm not so fond of that part, but I like Christmas gifts as a general rule. I know people who no longer exchange gifts and generously donate all the money they would have spent to worthy causes. We've talked about becoming those people, but we've decided not to go that route. Instead we have a modest Christmas budget with defined spending limits, and we try to give the best gifts we can with the money we have available.

I realize that every family is very different in their approach to gift giving. I'm sure that some of our favorite gift giving options would never fly in your family and vice versa, but I'm sharing some of what we like to do in hope that it will help us all to think creatively about giving better gifts. Please comment and share your ideas as well. I love getting new inspiration and new options to check out.

So without further ado, here are some ideas we love for giving better gifts.

1. Give gift certificates for interesting things to do. They never add clutter or end up stuffed under the bed or break after 3 days, and they allow people to spend time making happy memories. Find interesting restaurants the gift recipient would enjoy. Send someone to the spa for pampering. Check out local arboretums, historical attractions, theaters, bowling alleys, zoos, gardens, museums, etc. If you're willing to spend more, consider buying a membership for a full year worth of fun. Since our kids came home, we've enjoyed numerous trips to the children's museum, McDonald's, the children's garden, and the zoo that were all gifts. We love these gifts and look forward to using them. This year we added two new things to the wish list we gave our family: tickets to The Crayola Factory and gift certificates to attend workshops at ACPPA, the community art center 2 blocks from our house. Some people feel that a gift certificate isn't a "real" gift, but we think enjoying special activities is one of the best gifts.

2. Give gifts with purpose. If you know someone who loves coffee, buy some high quality fair trade coffee that also supports a great cause. If you don't already have a favorite organization that sells coffee, we'd recommend Gobena Coffee. Everyone wins: the gift recipient, the coffee farmers, and the organization receiving the profits. Find out if your favorite charitable organization is selling anything as a fundraiser. For Mother's Day Peter made a donation to an organization I love and received my favorite necklace in return. If you want to buy home decor for someone, buy it from a fair trade store or online retailer so you're supporting artisans around the world. Ten Thousand Villages has very cool stuff in a wide variety of price ranges. Thanks to the internet, it doesn't take long to find oodles of purposeful gift giving options.

3. Give previously loved gifts. I know some of you will think the idea of giving used gifts is terrible. I've struggled with it, too. A few years ago Peter found a used high end drill on craigslist. He knew my brother would love it. All the siblings had a debate about whether he would be OK with a used gift, and I was the most hesitant. We finally decided to go in together and take the risk. Phil was so surprised to get such a great drill. He didn't care a bit that it was used because he knew he would have never gotten one new. This year I decided to make a quick stop at the Thrift Store to see if Garty's desired Bob the Builder movie was there. Sure enough, I found it for $1. By the time Garty is old enough to understand that I bought him a used VHS tape instead of a new DVD, he'll be years past his Bob the Builder phase. Giving previously loved gifts obviously isn't always a good choice, but when it works well, it frees up money for other useful purposes.

4. Give alternative gifts. Most of us really don't need a lot more stuff to put in our house, so consider making donations to charities that the gift recipient will appreciate. There's a non-profit organization for almost any interest your friends and family members may have.

If you really want to give a "real" gift, make a donation and then give something related to the donation. Since our kids came home, an animal has been donated on behalf of our family to another family in need each Christmas. The gift we open is a note explaining the gift and then one these handmade ornaments. This weekend when we decorate our tree with the kids, we'll talk about the goat and pig we received. We'll wonder what the families who received the real animals are doing now. We'll be thankful that they are benefitting from our gift. It will be a good memory, and our tree will look cool. I realize that this kind of crafty creativity isn't for everyone. You won't find me trying to fashion a cute little animal out of modeling clay, but I could order Beatrice's Goat for a family to read to understand the significance of a goat I donated on their behalf.

If I still haven't convinced you, consider buying a "real" gift and then making a very small donation on behalf of each gift recipient. An alternative gift market is a great place to do this, as gifts often start as low as a few dollars. You can buy as many little gifts as you want, but you only have to make one payment at the end. Search for one in your area or come to the alternative gift market at the Plymouth Meeting Mall on Dec 7. Peter and I will be there representing Worldlink and 2 other organizations we support. You can stop to say hi as you check out more than 20 great organizations, nibble a few cookies, and sip some tasty coffee.

I'm sure there are other great ideas I've missed, but I need to stop and get this posted. I hope to hear about all the great gift ideas you have so I can add them to my list for next year.

Next up: making the most of family traditions.

Previous Posts
Honoring Christmas: a series
Honoring Christmas: the hard work
Honoring Christmas: advent