Thoughts on Christmas

Some of you know that my family is doing something a little different for Christmas this year. Per my brother we drew names and we were required to make our gifts. At first I wasn't very excited about this. I like getting presents for people and thought I wouldn't like getting just one present. I also wasn't sure about making a gift because the end of the year is crazy at school and I was afraid I wouldn't have enough time to get something made. I have to say that I had a change of heart about the whole thing. What I have realized is that by making a gift for just one person I was really able to focus on that specific person. I also realized that making a gift requires a lot of thought, which makes it more special and meaningful. This also caused me to focus on things that are important about Christmas: the true meaning of Christmas, family, spending time with people, etc., instead of getting stressed out about finding the perfect gift and thinking about things that I want to get from people. Also, at church on Sunday they were talking about how much is spent on Christmas every year ($450 billion). That really shocked me! I had no idea the people spent that much each year. They also talked about how much it would cost for the entire world to have clean water ($10 million). So, basically if people cut down on the amount of money they spent on things that people don't need or want we could do a lot more for people who need something that we take for granted. Another thing that really surprised me was that for $40 an organization in Denver can feed a family of 4 for a week! $40?? Seriously?? So, since my family cut down on Christmas I am going to find a way to give to something or someone who really needs something like food, or clean water, or books for school, or a desk to sit in at school. The list is really endless. I'll attach the link below if that touches any of you to do the same thing. I hope that you all have a Merry Christmas and focus on things that really matter to you. Oh, and thanks Matt for making us cut down this year. It helped me to put things into a little better perspective.

http://store.sechristian.org/Missions-Marketplace-C1.aspx