15 Days Till Christmas!

It's Monday and in case you haven't looked at the calendar, today is December 10. We have 15 days left till Christmas! Don't worry, if you still have shopping left to do, there is plenty of time left.

I spent some time over the weekend thinking of what my favorite Christmas gift was as a child. It wasn't a bike or a doll. It was a red Tonka dump truck. I still have it, packed away. I was given that truck as a gift at a church when I was a toddler, and I played with it for years. The truck wasn't purchased specifically for me, though. My family attended a  Christmas play at the church my mom went to as a child. At that church in the late 1960's children were given random Christmas gifts that the church members donated. I hope every child there had as much fun with the gifts they received that night as I had with mine.
The other gifts that stand out in my memory as my favorites were the stocking stuffers I got each year. The stocking stuffers I'm referring to aren't the gifts that most of us think of now, but  hard candy, oranges and pecans that were still in the shell; and the pecans had to be in the shell, because removing the them from their shell was challenge, and that was part of the Christmas tradition too. I looked forward to those stocking stuffers every year.
While my favorite gifts may seem simple; they left me with great memories. Isn't that what a great Christmas gift should do? The same principle applies to our relationships. They should be memorable, but they don't require anything grandiose to make them so. If our relationships - with our spouse, boyfriend/girlfriend, family, friends and with God are simple and memorable; then we can know it's right. That may seem understated, but a child knows when they are loved. Why do we as adults sometimes find it so hard it accept or understand?
Psalm 100:5 For the Lord is good. His unfailing love continues forever, and his faithfulness continues to each generation.

Luke 2

New Living Translation (NLT)

The Birth of Jesus

2 At that time the Roman emperor, Augustus, decreed that a census should be taken throughout the Roman Empire. ² (This was the first census taken when Quirinius was governor of Syria.) ³ All returned to their own ancestral towns to register for this census. ⁴ And because Joseph was a descendant of King David, he had to go to Bethlehem in Judea, David’s ancient home. He traveled there from the village of Nazareth in Galilee. ⁵ He took with him Mary, his fiancée, who was now obviously pregnant.

⁶ And while they were there, the time came for her baby to be born.