twenty-five | day 18 – intentional gifts

wrapping gleaming bright...

presents under christmas tree,

is this one for me?

today I read a post that made a bit of sense to me (doesn’t happen as often as it should…). Even though I don’t have kids, I still think this would be a good rule of thumb for being intentional with Christmas gifts. These days we seem to give gifts just for the sake of being able to go shopping for stuff. There’s no rhyme or reason behind the gift giving. So this lady has a creative way of giving her kids gifts, but not necessarily spoiling them (sorry if you’ve seen this before…I thought it was creative). A child would get:

want – usually something the kid will enjoy like a small toy or other item they may have had their eye on
need – a sweater for the next year or something
spiritual gift – a bible or something else that would help promote the child’s spiritual growth

this seems like a decent thought, to try to be intentional about what kinds of christmas gifts you're giving your child (although is it just me or does 3 gifts for a kid seem a bit much?). Anyways, in this time and age when we're blasted by ads and messages telling us that we need to find the perfect gift for our loved ones (or 10 perfect gifts), i wonder how many people I know with kids would be willing to try this three-step gift giving concept for christmas? Maybe next year I can get an experiment going...possibly see if switching to this kind of gift giving simplifies the holiday pageantry and allows a family to focus on more important things during christmas.

twenty-five | day 17 – keeping a Christ-centered Christmas

therefore, go in peace
greet others in love and joy
Shine your light around

Christmas-time seems to have gotten so convoluted these days. There’s so much focus on holiday decorations, giving of gifts, and other stuff that we often lose sight of the real focus of the holiday, which is the birth of Jesus. I’m guilty of this a lot too. I get wrapped up in the music and the fun atmosphere of the holiday more than I should, and I will lose sight of the importance of the holiday. Well, anyways…in the spirit of a Christ-centered Christmas, here’s the Christmas story, courtesy of Luke:

In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world. (This was the first census that took place while Quirinius was governor of Syria.) And everyone went to their own town to register.

So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David. He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child. While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no guest room available for them.

And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.”

Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying,

“Glory to God in the highest heaven,
and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.”
When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let’s go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.”

So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger. When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child, and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them. But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart. The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told.

On the eighth day, when it was time to circumcise the child, he was named Jesus, the name the angel had given him before he was conceived.

twenty-five | day 16 – turkey, turkeeyyy

eggnog and turkey

festive christmas company

what a nice sunday

all of this will go together – except for the nog...that's for me =)

Every year after thanksgiving, Costco comes out with their holiday cookbook (with new recipes – I imagine costco has a room full of grandmas cranking out recipes for this cookbook). One of my favorite holiday recipes was shamelessly pilfered from one of these cookbooks about 2-3 years ago. Today, I'm pulling out the recipe for turkey breast with cranberry risotto stuffing one more time for a potluck. The recipe is fairly simple, and takes about 45 min. of prep-time and 1 hour in the oven. Of course, any recipe from costco seems easy, but you inevitably end up elbow deep in turkey remnants wondering if the rice stuffing will actually stay in the bird remains. Good thing the pictures are convincing enough that you trust it will come out looking at least 75% like the one in the book. You just have to be ok with that concept.

I guess I might as well describe this turkey a bit. It's a turkey breast from nugget (apparently if you ask for turkey breast, they'll just bust open a turkey and carve out the piece you want) and you just have to carve out a little pocket for the stuffing (much harder than costco recipe grandma makes it seem). The risotto is made with chicken stock and stuff into the turkey (laid to rest in a pyrex surrounded by turkey stock – might as well be with other turkey stuff right?).

This thing comes out of the oven with the ability of feeding a basketball team (or 20 potluckers). Of course, it takes another 30 minutes just to make it look like the picture in the book. Yea...I'm a little too lazy for presentation. We'll just say this is good enough.

twenty-five | day 15 – count your many blessings, count them one by one...

gather loved ones close

it's the time to be thankful

God has blessed us so!

Christmas time should be a time of great rejoicing for Christians. It gives us a chance (not that we shouldn't be doing this throughout the year) to reflect on the year and what God has been doing in our lives, and a time to look forward to the new year. We have so much to be thankful for! On top of which, it's the opportunity to talk to people about what Christmas means to you! A chance to talk about Jesus and what he did for us, starting with being born in a manger in Bethlehem. Many people complain about the holidays (i do too sometimes), and others will give alternate views of Christmas. With so many distractions around us, it's understandable that people can easily forget to count their blessings. But, if we continue in the word of God, and rely upon the Holy Spirit, then we can better appreciate the blessings that God has graciously allowed to flow into our lives. As you navigate the business of this holiday season, remember to count your many blessings, name them one by one and it will surprise you what the Lord has done!

twenty-five | day 14 – a little holiday sadness

tis advent season

joy cometh in the morning

sure could use some now

It’s sad that in the holiday season, something like today could happen. I’m sure you’ve all heard by now about the shootings this morning. It just disappoints me when I see what evil some people are capable of. Joy cometh in the morning, scripture tells us. I sure hope so. I’m saddened to hear about the shootings in Connecticut, and I can’t begin to imagine what goes on in the guy’s head that causes him to do this. All I can say with fair certainty, is that he wasn’t born wanting to do this. Maybe something in the environment he grew up in caused him to snap. Maybe he was too taken in with the violence and mayhem in the culture. I don’t know. I don’t know what people in the coming days/months will suggest we do to prevent these things from happening again. I just know that people aren’t born wanting to do this. All throughout the day people at work were talking about what happened, sharing articles on the details. I kept hearing about horror stories from teachers with kids, kids that just wanted to make it till Christmas. Kids shouldn’t have to wish for that, and teachers shouldn’t have to hear their kids say that. I know they will be in the prayers of many people tonight.

Joy comes in the morning. I sure hope David is right.

twenty-five | day 13 – holiday decorations

white icicle lights,

inflatable santa claus

please don’t blow a fuse

Back in the southbay, there was a street off of Grant road in Los Altos near the Mountain View border that was known for having elaborate Christmas decorations. This street and the great wall of china are probably the only two things visible from outer space this time of year. It was so well-known in fact, that cars used to line up so they could drive down that street to view the lights.

Of course, the question arises, when do you take your Christmas decorations down? After all, doesn’t it get tacky to see a house in the middle of june with Christmas lights over the garage and an inflatable snowglobe on the front lawn? (I know…this kind of talk should be coming from anyone but me) I suppose for most people it’s after the first of the year. Certainly before memorial day. Anytime after that and you subject your house to teepee’d trees and eggings. Of course there is something to be said about having the Christmas spirit year round…but maybe just keep it indoors and away from the resentful stares of your neighbors.

twenty-five | day 12 – tropical christmas?

santa’s wearing shorts…

palm trees swaying in the wind

is something not right??

I wonder how people in tropical places celebrate Christmas? The other day, I posted about being somewhere tropical for Christmas…not necessarily because I want to be on a beach during Christmas time, but because I wonder what they would do? Living in California, we already have a taste of what it’s like to not have white Christmases, albeit we still get 40 degree weather around December; but what’s it like for Christmas in the Caribbeans? Or Hawaii?

A buddy of mine goes to Hawaii every Christmas with her family because of a timeshare. I wonder what that Christmas tree looks like (do they even have pine-trees in Hawaii??). Do you have wet-sand fights instead of snowballs? Would santa’s sleigh work as well in the sand?? Soo many questions…