It’s time….time to “Step into Christmas”.
Lean into it.
Break out the Christmas tie.
Wear those Christmas socks.
Watch your favorite Christmas movies.
Say “Merry Christmas” to strangers.
Be thankful for Jesus and the gift of his birth.
Whatever positive element of the Christmas season speaks to you, lean into it. Enjoy it. Smile. A lot.
Merry Christmas.
Jake
My idea of Christmas, whether old-fashioned or modern, is very simple: loving others. Come to think of it, why do we have to wait for Christmas to do that? – Bob Hope
Idea for the day – start Christmas early.
Don’t wait another day to say thank you.
Don’t wait another day to say I love you.
Don’t wait another day to hug somebody.
Go ahead and get started. Spread some love and joy.
Make it a great day.
Jake
I try to remember to share the story below each Christmas..
Always remember that you are on Santa’s team.
Merry Christmas.
Jake
My grandma taught me everything about Christmas. I was just a kid. I remember tearing across town on my bike to visit her on the day my big sister dropped the bomb: "There is no Santa Claus," jeered my sister. "Even dummies know that!"
My grandma was not the gushy kind, never had been. I fled to her that day because I knew she would be straight with me. I knew Grandma always told the truth, and I knew that the truth always went down a whole lot easier when swallowed with one of her world-famous cinnamon buns.
Grandma was home, and the buns were still warm. Between bites, I told her everything. She was ready for me.
"No Santa Claus!" she snorted. "Ridiculous! Don’t believe it. That rumor has been going around for years, and it makes me mad, plain mad. Now, put on your coat, and let’s go."
"Go? Go where, Grandma?" I asked. I hadn’t even finished my second cinnamon bun.
"Where" turned out to be Kerby’s General Store, the one store in town that had a little bit of just about everything. As we walked through its doors, Grandma handed me ten dollars. That was a bundle in those days.
"Take this money," she said, "and buy something for someone who needs it. I’ll wait for you in the car." Then she turned and walked out of Kerby’s.
I was only eight years old. I’d often gone shopping with my mother, but never had I shopped for anything all by myself. The store seemed big and crowded, full of people scrambling to finish their Christmas shopping. For a few moments I just stood there, confused, clutching that ten-dollar bill, wondering what to buy, and who on earth to buy it for. I thought of everybody I knew: my family, my friends, my neighbors, the kids at school, the people who went to my church.
I was just about thought out, when I suddenly thought of Bobbie Decker. He was a kid with bad breath and messy hair, and he sat right behind me in Mrs. Pollock’s grade-two class. Bobbie Decker didn’t have a coat. I knew that because he never went out for recess during the winter. His mother always wrote a note, telling the teacher that he had a cough; but all we kids knew that Bobbie Decker didn’t have a cough, and he didn’t have a coat.
I fingered the ten-dollar bill with growing excitement. I would buy Bobbie Decker a coat. I settled on a red corduroy one that had a hood to it. It looked real warm, and he would like that. I didn’t see a price tag, but ten dollars ought to buy anything. I put the coat and my ten-dollar bill on the counter and pushed them toward the lady behind it.
She looked at the coat, the money, and me. "Is this a Christmas present for someone?" she asked kindly. "Yes," I replied shyly. "It’s … for Bobbie. He’s in my class, and he doesn’t have a coat." The nice lady smiled at me. I didn’t get any change, but she put the coat in a bag and wished me a Merry Christmas.
That evening, Grandma helped me wrap the coat in Christmas paper and ribbons, and write, "To Bobbie, From Santa Claus" on it … Grandma said that Santa always insisted on secrecy.
Then she drove me over to Bobbie Decker’s house, explaining as we went that I was now and forever officially one of Santa’s helpers. Grandma parked down the street from Bobbie’s house, and she and I crept noiselessly and hid in the bushes by his front walk.
Suddenly, Grandma gave me a nudge. "All right, Santa Claus," she whispered, "get going."
I took a deep breath, dashed for his front door, threw the present down on his step, pounded his doorbell twice and flew back to the safety of the bushes and Grandma. Together we waited breathlessly in the darkness for the front door to open. Finally it did, and there stood Bobbie. He looked down, looked around, picked up his present, took it inside and closed the door.
Forty years haven’t dimmed the thrill of those moments spent shivering, beside my grandma, in Bobbie Decker’s bushes. That night, I realized that those awful rumors about Santa Claus were just what Grandma said they were: Ridiculous!
Santa was alive and well … AND WE WERE ON HIS TEAM!
The ending in particular stood out to me:
To those of us who work hard every day for our families — no matter what we do or what we earn — let’s keep our heads high and support each other.
Lord knows we need it.
This struck me as a perfect reminder this holiday season.
No matter who we are, how much money we make, how successful we are perceived as being; we all could use a little support.
We need it. All of us.
Merry Christmas.
Jake
"Love is not affectionate feeling, but a steady wish for the loved person’s ultimate good as far as it can be obtained." – CS Lewis
Love is a central theme of the Christmas season.
We are reminded of the importance of the loving relationships in our lives and are inspired to love mankind in a way that seems to elude use the rest of the year.
CS Lewis has some great thoughts on the subject of love and this quote is a great reminder.
Love isn’t a feeling – it’s an action.
Either in how we think about and consider someone or better yet in what we do and say in response to those consistent and steady wishes for a loved one’s ultimate good.
Feed the flames of these thoughts and actions that Christmas inspires.
Keep it up through the New Year and on to next year.
Make it a great day.
Jake
This has become a new family favorite around the Davis house.
Christmas is a great time for both old and new traditions.
Life is full of transitions between the old traditions and the new.
As we seek wisdom, an important area is deciding when to let go of something and move on to something new.
Embracing the new while cherishing the old can be a delicate balance.
Christmas is a great time to embrace both.
Make it a great day.
Jake
“It is a fair, even-handed, noble adjustment of things, that while there is infection in disease and sorrow, there is nothing in the world so irresistibly contagious as laughter and good humour.”
― Charles Dickens, A Christmas Carol
This is a great thought to remember this Christmas season.
It’s so easy to get caught up with running from place to place and buying thing after thing.
Sometimes we move so fast we don’t give ourselves a chance to be affected by the laughter and good humour of others.
There are so many reasons to smile and laugh, but we have to notice them.
We have to slow down enough to catch them from others.
This time of year it is easy to let it slip by without having letting a little joy in.
Make yourself laugh this week.
Watch that favorite Christmas movie.
Share a drink with someone.
Email a joke to a friend.
Do something to make yourself and others laugh.
Make it a great day.
Jake
Zoey: What do you get if you cross an iPad with a Christmas tree?
Johnny: I don’t know. What?
Zoey: A pineapple!
“Get rid of the trash to make room for the treasures. Let the things that are important take center stage.” —Peter Walsh
This seems appropriate as we contemplate the Christmas season.
Each year we are tempted to buy more and more stuff.
We fall prey to the holiday sales and the feelings of obligation to buy yet another something for somebody who already has too much.
Sorry….channeling my inner grinch a little too much there.
Be thoughtful about how you spend your time and money this season. Contemplate whether you are adding treasures or trash.
Make room for more of the great stuff and move past the good.
Make it a great day.
Merry Christmas.
Jake
Bob Goff is known for his fun and whimsical personality. He famously put his personal cell phone number in the back of a NYT bestselling book, and he expects and answers calls. He makes himself available.
He also says he plans his calendar nine months and one day in advance, no further, in case he is to be become a grandfather. His purpose is to be available.
Busyness is no way to measure a life. Busy is a thief. It’s a phantom measure of worth and success and it will never get as much done as availability will. Remain available. Learn to say no, and measure your life by the things you get to say yes to.
Quoted from: https://www.becomingminimalist.com/better-ways-to-measure-your-life/
I really liked this excerpt from this blog post.
It’s all too easy to buy into the lie that busyness is a badge of honor and something to be proud of. It’s not true. Don’t believe it.
We really don’t have that many levers when we look to control and manage our lives, but we do get to choose how we manage our time.
The article talks about availability – I’ve also heard it called margin or breathing room.
There’s a lot of great stuff waiting for some breathing room in your life so it can makes it way in.
The holidays are a great reminder of this – slow down and enjoy them.
Make it a great day.
Jake
Christmas is the spirit of giving without a thought of getting.
It is happiness because we see joy in people.
It is forgetting self and finding time for others.
It is discarding the meaningless and stressing the true values. – Thomas S. Monson
Don’t let the season pass you by without noticing and being a part of it all.
Look for the joy in others.
Forget about yourself and make time for someone you love.
Focus on what’s really important.
Simple reminders.
Merry Christmas.
Make it a great day.
Jake
Practical Steps for Friendship, Unity and Intimacy in Your Marriage
