Christmas is Coming!

Christmas Tree

     November marks a season of change. Gone are the months of September and October that mark the beginning of the school season. Gone is the season of shifting from summer’s vacations to a normal schedule (whatever that might mean). Gone is the season when we can depend on warmth to return after every cold snap. We have come fully into the season called autumn, when leaves are either colored or gone.
     November marks the beginning of the holiday season. It is a time for making Thanksgiving plans and thinking about what items to purchase on Black Friday. The time of Indian Summer is upon us and we all begin to realize that Christmas is just around the corner.

     For me personally, November marked the time when the organization of a new church year came to an end, and things were beginning to run smoothly. November for me, and for the Pilgrims, and for many farmers marks a time of rest, when recovery is possible after a hectic year. But it was not time to stop planning completely, the busy month of December was just ahead.

Advent Calendar

     November was the time I planned for December. I placed the multitude of church activities, parties, school programs and community events on my calendar. But I did not stop after these plans were input into my calendar. I went on to plan something much more important: My children’s Christmas (Advent) celebration.
     Soon after my first daughter was born, it came to my awareness that there is something more important than events and more eternal than presents, Jesus’ birthday. I could not and should not forget to plan family events that would help my children understand my faith. I set an agenda to share a Bible verse with my family each day at breakfast, and also a special seasonal event every day.

Children's Christmas Activities

     All these plans are included at www.KosherCopy.com under the Advent tab. I have produced a pamphlet of ideas to share with your children, and also an advent calendar. Many of the ideas do not take long to accomplish, but set one by one, each day of december, they have a profound effect on faith (and greed). Through providing an activity every day of Advent, the emphasis is taken off the giving of presents and placed on the celebration of Christ’s birth.
     With the free resources at my website, www.KosherCopy.com, it does not take long to plan a great Christmas. It only takes a decision and a couple hours of time. There is a great reward when your children find joy in Jesus rather than “what’s in it for me.”

Advent Journeys

I hope you have enjoyed our new book Advent Journeys.  When I first worte the book, I started with an idea.  I wondered what it was like for Joseph and Mary to travel from Nazareth to Bethlehem.  The road (as you know if you read the book) was well traveled, and with a lot of history.  I tried to relay some of the stories as Mary and Joseph journeyed toward Bethlehem.  I also included in the book some foods they might have eaten and details of some of the more rugged portions of the route.

After writing about Mary and Joseph, I wondered about the journey of the Magi.  I learned a lot of stories from ancient history (including how the ancient Magi learned to adjust the calendar so they would know which month was spring.  I also learned the seven notes of the musical scale are patterned off the seven days of the week.  When the Magi visited their capital and also King Herod, I found out the gossip about their queen and the court of Israel.

As I turned my thoughts to the Shepherds, I realized they only traveled from their fields to Bethlehem.  Rather than a travel diary, I decided to look into what the Shepherds did to fill their time.  I learned about how sheep were cared for and sold.  The Shepherds became real people.

As I added the diary of Zechariah, I studied the daily tasks of the Priests (which is NOT like our worship services today!) and also the layout of the Temple.  I had some fun reading the Jewish Mishnah and hearing senile old men trying to remember what the Temple was like when they served as young men.  Did you discover the secret of the wood shed?

During the final week of the month … the fifth week of Advent (there actually is no fifth week, but we there ought to be one) I take a look ahead to the New Year.  I do this through the second trip of Joseph and Mary with Jesus as they leave Bethlehem and travel to Egypt, and then back to Nazareth.  Through the Journals of the final week of Advent I wanted to help people focus on the future.  For after Christmas we have a new year beginning.  (After Jesus was born he had a life ahead of him … and the life of Jesus was planned).  I have always benefitted personally by taking the week between Christmas and New Years to look ahead.

I included a sixth chapter of the book, Chanukah.  This was to be read during the week of Chanukah.  Because Chanukah (on the 25th of the Jewish month of Kislev) occurs according to the lunar calendar, the corresponding date on our calendar changes every year.  I will put up a calendar for 2016 on the website some time in January.

Did you enjoy the book?  If you did, would you do me a favor and recommend the book on Amazon.com.  To do this, scroll down to the bottom of the page, and click the “write a customer review” button.  It only takes a sentence or two to let people know you enjoyed the book.  Tell them something you enjoyed or learned.  Also raecommend they purchase a copy!  And I would appreciate five stars.

Your review will help others decide to purchas a book next year.  And, it’s not too early … Who would benefit from receiving a book for Christmas (or even better, Thanksgiving) next year??

Advent: It doesn’t just happen!

In our high speed world you can have anything almost instantly. We would like the easy road to be best; but it isn’t always.  The best things in life take a little preparation.

Take Christmas for instance.  We all want to give the best gifts, which until the age of cyber shopping required multiple trips to the stores, and a never ending search for the “perfect” gift.  Now we can sit at home and shop (Some places would say in three easy clicks); but it is not that easy.  We still have to find the “perfect” gift, and to satisfy ourselves we look for the “best” price.  The experience requires visiting multiple sites in order for the gift to match the likes of each person for whom we are shopping.

We would like to have the best decorated home on the block in just three easy steps.  But anyone who has decorated their home will tell you even the simplest design requires more than three steps.  To place pre-strung icicles on the eaves of a one story home takes at least six steps on the ladder … in multiple locations!

Ask anyone, simple is a lot harder than it looks.

We all desire the perfect Christmas filled with closeness to Christ and filled with Christian love.  But the Christmas experience we really desire does not just happen.  A spirit filled Christmas requires preparation.

For my children I wrote an Advent guide.  Then I placed each activity on an Advent Calendar to make sure it got done.  Over time I produced pamphlets to share with others.  (This year my daughter and I printed a book.)  As we diligently followed through on our plans for each day, when Christmas Day arrived we found it was more than the presents: Christmas was Christ. it was more than just a day: December 25th became the high point of a season.  Our preparation made a great difference.

And not only did the preparation make a great difference each year … now that my children have grown and I hear them talk about their Christmas this year: the effort and preparation I put into each year as they were growing up paid dividends.  For they carry with them the memories and the desire to keep the real Christmas alive for themselves, and share with others.

What will your Christmas look like?  Rather than just letting Christmas “happen,”  I would recommend a plan.  And one plan (if you want it as simple as it could be) I would recommend is to buy our book Advent Journeys and use it for personal and dinner table devotions this year.