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For our family, the focus of Christmas was Christmas Eve.  Yes, we shopped for presents, listened to Christmas music, put up a Christmas tree, looked forward to posole and tamales Christmas Eve, spent time with Joan’s family in Albuquerque or mine in Kansas, and opened presents Christmas morning. But, from the time our children were small, we always looked forward to a Christmas Eve church service followed by a family time. 

That time started with reading “Twas the Night Before Christmas” (with each member rubbing the fuzzy surface of Santa’s clothes), then several children’s books built around Jesus’ birth.  Next, I would read about His birth from the Bible and we would have a short time of prayer. The kids would then go off to bed while Joan and I finished wrapping presents. 

As our children became adults and we began adding grandchildren, we continued meeting at our house for Christmas and the Christmas Eve service followed by the family time (without changes – including the mandatory rubbing of Santa’s clothes).

Then the Lord sent Joan and me to Africa and we missed the tradition for 6 years.  In the U.S. the meeting place moved to our daughter’s home since she had children and our son was not yet married.  But, other than that, Christmas Eve was the same.

In Nigeria, things were different. The months leading up to Christmas were marked by an increased rate of armed robberies. And there were no Christmas Eve services because it was too dangerous to be out after dark. So Christian families gathered in their homes early. There was little outward evidence of Christmas and, because of unreliable phone service, the likelihood that we could communicate with our children in the U.S. was slim to none.  But we had God’s Word, knew His abiding presence, and had experienced His utter faithfulness, and they were more than enough.

Now that Joan and I are back in the U.S., we still meet at our daughter’s home as they did when we were gone.  And now that we have grown grandchildren (as well as an infant grandson), the tradition still holds, always ending with Scripture.

The time in Nigeria was a real blessing to us in many ways.  One of them was in moving more of the Point of Christmas more from our heads to our hearts.  No matter the tradition of the culture where one is living, there are things that are firm and unchangeable. 

Particularly that “God so loved the world that He sent His one and only Son..”  By itself, that fact is an absolute wonder!  And He did it for a purpose “that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.” (John 3:16). The accounts of His birth carry evidence that Jesus met all the requirements for the long awaited Savior of the world; the only One who could reconcile us to God as we put our faith in Him.

At the end of the day, our confidence and comfort are in Him and Him alone.  What a great privilege we have to be able to celebrate His birth openly and without fear!

May the reality of His presence fill you with His peace and joy this Christmas and always.

Christmas cards! A sparkly, happy and festive reminder of the people we care about reaching out to us, sharing their news and remembering us during the Holidays. With photos of happy, smiling families or reindeer smiling gaily you may hang them on your tree, a wreath, a swag across the door, or in some other Pinterest-worthy presentation.

The idea is almost antiquated, surpassed by technology, opportunity, and convenience. Yet, surprisingly, happily, the cards still come. Keeping us in touch with loved ones in a way that still surpasses Facebook.

But the holidays pass. We take down our decorations and then what? Do those cards go in the recycling or trash? Maybe you’re crafty and add them to a holiday book……but then the book ends up in the box with last year’s and the years’ before that, forgotten and collecting dust. A sweet reminder of friends, quickly laid aside, as the excitement of the New Year comes upon us.

What if there was a different way to “use” these Christmas Cards, one with a value greater than the glitter, foil-print, gloss and ribbon?

What if your Christmas Cards became Prayer Cards?

What if those Christmas letters sharing the excitement, success, perhaps sorrow, or changes of your friends’ and family’s previous year were used as an insight on how you can pray for them? Wouldn’t that change your perspective on Christmas cards completely? For them and for you!

Several years ago, close friends of ours, prayers warriors, shared how they “use” their Christmas Cards as Prayer Cards. As the Christmas Cards come in throughout the month of December, and a few in January, they are indeed used to decorate. But once the season is past, they are added to a simple basket on the dining room table.

At each meal throughout the year one card is taken out, perhaps the card or letter is reread, and then they pray over that family or individual. Specifically. By name. By occasion; giving thanks, supplication, or prayerful request.

This family now gets our card every year! We never know what day they might be praying for us. But HE does and they do. And we take strength from their commitment to caring for us. This has become our tradition, as well.

We keep a simple basket at our table, or sometimes on the mantle, filled with Christmas cards of the ones we love as a constant reminder to pray for friends and family, near and far. We pray for their lives; for their relationships; for their salvation. This is not saving the planet. We are not recycling.

We are reaffirming and reinvesting our love and commitment to family and friends throughout the year. We are re-dedicating ourselves and our lives to use God’s precious power to help those we love.

What would it look like for your family to pray over Christmas cards? How would it change your prayer life and the lives of those you care about most?

Anyone read “The Best Christmas Pageant Ever”? Remember the mayhem of the Christmas pageant? That’s the Malizzos when it comes to traditions. Really. Some of the “traditions” I’ve come up with are fun: stockings, cookie exchanges, making ornaments (what was I thinking? Glitter….enough said), decorating, and Christmas cards. I’m a little tired just thinking about it.

What do my kids remember? Likely they will just remember stocking paraphernalia, cookie icing, glitter, and the cool lighty-up mini Christmas tree that they fought over. Not too bad. Fun memories certainly. We celebrate Christmas with all of our fun, and there’s nothing wrong with that but what about Christ?

Are these “traditions” just giving a nod to a baby in a manger so we can get on with the gifts?

To be honest, I don't have very Christ-celebrating fruit when I push for “my” traditions. Christ’s fruit (joy, peace, and patience, to name a few) are festivity-ed out of my heart. And then - true confession - I end up feeling guilty. Guilty for spending too much money; guilty for sort of mixing culture with sacred; guilty for personally not focusing on the Messiah King more than decking the halls.

If that’s me celebrating Christmas then what does it look like for me to celebrate Christ?

Funny enough, it’s the traditions that I really have very little to do with. It’s lingering fellowship with dear friends around our kitchen table, movies with others, time away from the crazy to be a family, and PJ’s until noon. It’s eating cookies together with milk and hot chocolate while staying up past bed time. It’s reading “The Best Christmas Pageant Ever” as a family. It is NOT anything having to do with glitter because glitter is just wrong.

These are the things that make me dwell on how “the Savior reigns” and make me want to “repeat the sounding joy”. They are Kingdom gifts as are Christ choosing to wrap Himself in flesh, choosing to be a servant rather than a king, and choosing to give His perfection to us and die as the guilty in our place. And they turn my heart to worship the baby in the manger and not just give a nod.

Celebrating Christ during Christmastime, by enjoying his gifts, trumps the mayhem of the Christmas pageant and brings rest.

Although not as traditional as some, our advent season is filled with family, joy and expectation, just the same. One of our favorite Advent traditions combines Christmas books and a sort of countdown.

Being a bookish family, a book-related Advent idea appealed to me immediately. I first heard about it from the lovely Sally Clarkson of MomHeart Ministry fame, but have seen other people share it since then.

The original idea is to wrap 24 Christmas themed books, and unwrap one each day to enjoy leading up to Christmas.

This is great for smaller kids, because as they see the pile grow smaller, they know that Christmas is getting closer in a real, tangible way.

We have added movies to the mix, just one or two per week, our favorites (think White Christmas, It’s A Wonderful Life, The Nativity, etc.)

The books are all types; we have the fun, very American ’Twas the Night Before Christmas, and The Grinch Who Stole Christmas, but also more meaningful and traditional The Three Trees and The Nutcracker. One of my favorites is Why Christmas Trees Aren’t Perfect which encourages service to others.

In the beginning, we didn’t have enough Christmas themed books to get us through, but this is where a thrift store can really come in handy! Over the years we have replaced some of the less-loved thrift store books with beautiful, meaningful, favorites.

It is possible that as our kids get older, the books may get more grown up too, but we will probably still have a few family favorite picture books in our pile!

For our family, to gather together and experience a story has become one of our favorite parts of the Christmas season. It is truly a joy to watch the kids unwrap a book and have their faces light up in anticipation!

Jesus and joy go hand in hand. The angels confirmed it that night, long ago. And this is one joy-filled tradition that transforms us and brings us closer together as a family.

Have you ever rented a movie because you heard that one particular scene was incredible? When you sat down to watch it, did you fast-forward through everything that occurs prior to the amazing scene, and then shut it off right after you’d watched it? I doubt it...who does that? You’d miss out on so much! You’d have no context for anything that happened in the scene, and would not have any understanding of the depth and complexity behind the events. We don’t do this because we understand that the writers, producers, directors, and actors have carefully prepared the entire movie for their audience. They have thought through every detail, planning the perfect presentation of that amazing scene as well as a resolution that brings everything together in the end. So, could you say that you’d seen the movie if you’d only watched one scene? No...no you couldn’t.

Now, with this in mind, let’s talk about Christmas. With the hustle and bustle of the season...which is really only four weeks long...it is easy to end up experiencing the holiday much the same way as the movie experience described above. We do think about Jesus’ birth, the angels, the shepherds, the wise men, the inn. However, as we stroll (or run frantically) through stores and wrap gifts and deck the halls, our thoughts rarely turn to to Noah...or David...or Rahab...or Joseph. Christmas zooms by, and we collapse on December 26, wondering, “was that IT? Christmas is...just OVER?” And maybe there’s a bit of a let-down...like you’d just watched a thrilling scene...and now it’s done. Maybe it feels like there should’ve been more to it...a lot more.

The thing is...there is.

This story, the story of a good Father who sends His only Son to get His precious ones back, it’s been carefully prepared for you. It is a story that was written long before you or I existed, but with you and I in mind. Every detail on every page has been purposefully crafted. Is it any wonder, then, that if we skip or skim most of it and only jump in at the part where the baby is laid in the manger, we end up feeling like we’ve missed something?

We have.

The advent season, the four weeks before Christmas, was always a time of spiritual preparation for my family.

Why would we need to spiritually prepare for Christmas? Simply put: so that we wouldn’t spiritually miss out on the whole thing.

When we’ve spent 4 weeks leading up to Christmas contemplating God’s amazing plan to rescue us, the celebration of the “advent”, or arrival, of the Rescuer Himself is unbelievably rich. There are many wonderful ways to do this. Our family has a “Jesse Tree” that we put up on December 1. The tree is named after David’s father, Jesse...and the name “Jesse” means “man”. As you know, Jesus referred to Himself as the “Son of Man”, which harkens back to prophecy concerning the Messiah...who would be one of David’s descendants (Daniel 7:13-14, Jeremiah 23:5-6).

We read a chunk of scripture each day and hang an ornament that depicts something from that day’s passage. The passages span much of the Bible, so that we get to experience the entire story. The passages also reveal what Jesus’ family was like.

We are reminded of the joy that is ours in being grafted into this family of redeemed sinners; and as we hang the ornaments on the tree, we remember that our adoption into His family was accomplished by Jesus hanging on a tree.

If you’d like to give this a try, here’s a suggested daily reading plan. The passages are suggestions on specific events upon which to meditate for the day. If you find yourself unfamiliar with them or simply wanting more, please read further as your time allows.

The more you read, the greater your experience of Christmas will be. (Order of passages taken from Ann Voskamp’s The Greatest Gift):

December 1: Isaiah 11:1-2, 10

December 2: Genesis 1:1-5, 26-27

December 3: Genesis 3:1-24

December 4: Genesis 6:5-22

December 5: Genesis 12: 1-7

December 6: Genesis 21: 1-7

December 7: Genesis 22:1-2, 6-14

December 8: Genesis 28:10-16

December 9: Genesis 37:3-4, 31-33, 50:15-20

December 10: Deuteronomy 5:1, 5-22, 29

December 11: Joshua 2:1-21

December 12: Ruth 1:1-17

December 13: 1 Samuel 16:1-12

December 14: Isaiah 9:2, 6-7

December 15: 1 Kings 18:18-24

December 16: Jonah 1:1-3, 17; 2:10; 3:1-5

December 17: Micah 5:2-5

December 18: Esther 4:10-17

December 19: Habakkuk 2:1; 3:16-19

December 20: Luke 1:6-17

December 21: Matthew 3:1-3

December 22: Luke 1:26-38

December 23: Matthew 1:18-23

December 24: Luke 2:1-7

December 25: Luke 2:11-19

Now, after Christmas is over, I’d invite you to continue reading through to Revelation, and begin your New Year with new perspective on this great big story...because it isn’t over yet. There’s much to look forward to as yearn for the day when our Lord who came back to get us makes all things new.

December 26: Matthew 3:13-17 December 27: Luke 8:1-2, 22-56

December 28: John 19:1-30 December 29: Mark 16

December 30: 1 John (Yes—read the whole book. Take a couple chapters in the morning and a couple at night.)

December 31: Revelation 1:1-3, 5:11-14, 21:1-7