Born to Travel: The Best Christmas Ever...part 1

Christmas Eve service at First Assembly
with Ariona

This Christmas was my most favorite one that I can remember for a long while. My Christmas's have always been good but this one was extremely memorable. One reason is because I have been living in Colorado. It makes holidays and trips home all the more meaningful when you've been away. The other reason that my Christmas was so wonderful is because it was truly a Christ-centered Christmas. :)
Wednesday nights at my church are pretty neat experiences. My pastor, Gordon, asks us questions and whoever wants to can answer so we have a church wide Bible study discussion. The Wednesday before Christmas my pastor asked us "What does your family do to make your celebration of Christmas different than nonbelievers?" I sat in my chair trying to come up with an answer. I couldn't really. We used to read the birth of Jesus in Luke every Christmas morning before we opened our presents. We used to bake a cake for Jesus and sing Him 'Happy Birthday.' We don't really do these things anymore. This troubled me. It bothered my mom too. We individually decided to pray and consult God on the matter.
Every year we bake Christmas cookies and give away goodie bags to my dad's tenants (He's a landlord). Normally we give them the gift and then invite them to our church's Christmas Eve service. When my mom prayed she felt that she was supposed to ask each person we delivered goodies to if we could pray for them right then and there. Most people respond well when you ask to pray for them. It was such a powerful experience. God met us on the steps of their houses as we prayed. His presence was evident and peace reigned. Our God is a GREAT God!!
When I prayed God gave me an idea of something to do with all of my family on Christmas. The wonderful family that I live with in Colorado does something special on birthdays. We go around the dinner table and share something we like about that person, or a special memory we have with the birthday person. God told me to do that with my family. As we sat together on Christmas we took turns saying one thing we liked about Jesus. Ahhh...it was such an incredible experience! I love getting a glimpse into the hearts of others. God has done great things and met us in unique ways. We must rejoice!
Two others things stick out to me that made my Christmas so wonderful. We reinstated an old family tradition last year. When I was growing up my family did not have as much money. The only time we went out to eat as a family was on Christmas Eve. To save money one particular year when we did not have much we had 'Secret Pals' ...instead of spending money on gifts we drew the name of someone in our family and then we made a homemade gift for that person. Eventually my dad starting making more money but we kept the tradition up. Somewhere along the way it stopped. Last year we started the tradition again. :-)

Zechariah, my 4 year-old nephew had my dad. My sister recorded him reading Psalm 91 to my dad. He had to go word by word. A lot of the words were new to him. He worked so hard reading the scripture. To hear a little child reading the promises of God are incredible. Very touching indeed.
[To those of you who also follow my sister's blog I am sorry but I stole this picture from hers.]
Below is the link to listen to Zech's reading. :)http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=_slWHJdV7To

I have so much to share that I am breaking this into 2 parts.