It's the most wonderful time of the year!

I LOVE Christmas! It is truly one of my very favorite times of the year. I love the decorations and the music. I love to get Christmas cards and hear from old friends. I love to have a quiet night at home watching a Christmas movie with my family in front of the fire. You name it I love it! AND while all of these things are great, it can be so easy to get caught up in them and forget about the real reason for the season. But I don't want to forget. And I want to be certain that my kiddos understand just why we are celebrating. Josh and I have always done some kind of advent devotion to help us prepare our hearts for Christmas and this year is no different. We've always included our kids as much as possible but this year we found this family devotion that I hope will make the season more meaningful to all of us. There is a short devotion and family activity for each of the days leading up to Christmas. Some of the activities look like they might be a little over our heads (at least for the littlest ones) but I think they can be adapted so that we can all participate.

One of the activities is to create a wreath where you attach stars with some of the different names of Jesus. Last night the name in our devotion was "King".


Annie wrote King on this star and we attached it to the wreath after reading several verses describing Jesus as King.

My hope for this season for our family is that we would recognize the reason for the season. That we would not be caught up in decorations or Christmas cards, movies or music but that we would wait and anticipate the coming of the King. That our focus would not be on the transient events of this life (be them good or bad-and 2010 has been a doozy of a year for us in both ways) but on the eternal implications of Christmas! That we would look beyond our circumstances and be filled with awe and gratitude because without Christmas there could be no Easter and without Easter we could have no hope! That we would REJOICE because we do have HOPE!

But the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be to all people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord."
Luke 2:10-11