A Christ-Centered Christmas {Link-Up Party}

Thank you so much for joining us for A Christ-Centered Christmas! As we all know, it is growing increasingly more difficult to enjoy and celebrate a truly Christ-Centered Christmas with each passing year. Commercialism, Materialism, and Consumerism reign supreme and if you’re like me, it is easy to get blinded by the bling. That is why I, and my friends, have decided to host this link up. We wanted to share simple and fun ways that we keep Christ the center of our Christmas celebrations to encourage you as you seek to celebrate a Christ-Centered Christmas! You will find my post on Sharing Love by Sharing Goodies below, as well as links to the four other hostesses. You don’t want to miss out on what they have to say! So be sure to stop by The Humbled Homemaker, Through My Lense, Mama Java, The French Bird and The Encouraging Home and check out the great ideas, tips and resources!

However, we know we are far from having all the answers, so we want to hear from you! Be sure to link up any posts you have about how you celebrate A Christ-Centered Christmas! If you link up, be sure to grab the button from the sidebar to display on your blog! Thanks so much for joining us, and we hope you and your’s have a very Merry Christmas!

Sharing Love by Sharing Goodies

I absolutely love Christmas. It is by far my favorite holiday. I love the songs, smells, traditions. I love the cold weather, warm drinks, and crazy funky handmade ornaments that adorn our tree. I love seeing the wonder in my children’s eyes and feeling it in my own heart, even after all these years. Hubs and I long to instill in our children the true meaning of Christmas. To teach them that while its fun to wrap and open gifts, hang stockings, and glue cotton balls to construction paper to make Santa’s beard, it’s all meaningless and empty without the miracle that began it all.

As a person of faith who loves and follows hard after Jesus, my life is drastically and miraculously affected by the events celebrated during Christmas and Easter. You cannot have one without the other, and had He not so graciously come to earth in the form of a human babe, my life would look quite different. Even typing it as a hypothetical makes me shudder. So, we are always looking for and trying fun ways to celebrate Christmas in a way that places Jesus in the proper place: smack dab in the center.

One of the ways we do this is by sharing goodies love with our neighbors. We have an amazing family recipe for fudge. I’m serious. I’ve never tasted anything like it. If silk were edible and had a baby with the deepest, richest chocolate on earth it would be this fudge. Sadly the recipe is top secret so I cannot share it with you. However, how can I not share the fudge itself with those I care for? No one (unless allergic, of course) should be denied this pleasure.

So we began the tradition of making fudge for every house on our road. Granted, we only knew 3 of our neighbors really at all when we started this. So, one hope was that it would give us a chance to meet or get to know better some of our other neighbors. It also gave them a chance to meet us and get a taste (no pun intended) of our culture and traditions. But mainly, our hope is that by sharing something as small as a homemade goody we are sharing a tangible extension of God’s love.  This whole process teaches our children (and ourselves!) a few things:

* You don’t have to know someone to love them with God’s love.
* Generosity; sharing something you enjoy and could easily keep to yourself.
* Caring for others and being willing to take the first step towards friendship.
* Learning skills in the kitchen (or art arena, or whatever type of thing your family enjoys making/doing together).

I’m sure there are many other lessons we have and will glean from our little tradition of trekking our road every year with goodies in hand and love in our hearts. Don’t cook or bake? No problem! You can make cards, simple ornaments, or even just write out a nice note on a store bought Christmas card. The idea is to let the love of God that is given so freely and lavishly to us to spill over to those He’s placed around us in our everyday lives. And to take every chance given to us to be His hands and feet and be a tangible representation of His love.

There are a few things an activity like this are not:

*It is NOT a way to “‘make a sale”, hoping a quick one time conversation with someone will “win” them to Christ.
* It is NOT a way to improve your own standing in the eyes of your neighbors.
* It is NOT a way to check off some list. (ex.  “I’ve done my Christian duty.”)

Let’s allow His love to well up in us so much that It can’t help but overflow and touch those around us with thoughtfulness, compassion and sharing. And let’s get our kids in on the fun!

What kinds of things does your family do to be tangible expressions of love to those He’s placed in your path?

Now it’s your turn to share! Link up your post about Christ-Centered Christmas using the linky below!

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