Hi y’all! I am Tamara Menges and my oh-so-darlin’ hubby and I own Tamara Menges Designs! Today I am sharing my thoughts on Santa Claus, and I am so grateful for the opportunity to write a guest post for Kristi!

I hate to admit this, but I am easily influenced by other people’s opinions.

Enter a Santa discussion with a couple friends from a few years ago.

I had no idea there were parents against teaching their kids about good old Saint Nick, absolutely no judgment at all, I simply just had no idea! My mind was blown when this topic came up.

During this conversation I felt more and more guilty because I knew Santa would be part of our Christmas traditions when we finally have kids. So on my drive home I called K (aka Kason, the darlin’ hubby I mentioned above) and unloaded on him about how we simply can’t allow Santa in our home or in our kid’s minds. That “he” will ruin them, and it’s our responsibility to guard their hearts and minds…

Let’s just say this didn’t go over well.

Once I got home and we discussed further he made me realize there is nothing wrong with Santa and the meaning behind him if it’s done right. He pointed out that we both grew up in homes and knew who Mr. Kris Kringle was, but we were also both taught that he was just a teensy “part” of Christmas, and the true meaning of Christmas is the incredible gift God gave us in His son Jesus. He also pointed out that while we did grow up with Old Saint Nick, we both turned out ok, and we truly love the Lord. So the chance of him ruining our kids was just silly.

Jump ahead to last week, I was at Bible study with other ladies and we began discussing how we were going to be intentional with celebrating Christmas from the Christian perspective. One mom mentioned she was having a hard time finding the balance between Jesus being born and it’s importance and the secular “fun” of Christmas.

Another mom mentioned that they teach their kids about Saint Nicholas, the real man who the “Santa Claus” we know today was inspired by. He was a man of God and made his life’s work telling others about Jesus.

(here’s a website for more info: http://www.stnicholascenter.org/pages/who-is-st-nicholas/)

Again my mind was blown because I didn’t realize (maybe I did and just forgot) that the white-bearded red-velvet-wearin’ jolly man, that every kid screams at at least once, was inspired by a real man who loved the Lord. How incredible!

So the consensus is, for our family, yes Santa will be a part, but our version will focus on the real man, Saint Nicholas, a man of God.

Some other fun traditions we plan to start when we have kids is celebrating Advent with scripture reading and a fun activity, story book reading (there are some great picture books at LifeWay Christian Book Store!) and throwing Jesus a birthday party!

Lastly, the one I’m most excited about (that I’m stealing from another mom in my Bible study group!) is we will only be giving 3 gifts to our kids. The “big” gift will represent gold, something for their spiritual growth will represent frankincense, and something for their body (clothes, etc.) will represent myrrh. We will explain why they are getting three and what each means with its significance and showing them in scripture that if it was good enough for Jesus it’s good enough for them! J

Prayers for a blessed and intentional Christmas to your family from ours!

About Tamara:

I met Tamara at church.  She's unfairly talented.  She's a successful wedding designer/coordinator. Her work is breath-taking AND she loves what she does.  So you'd think she has a character flaw or something.  Nope.  She's extremely sweet and wise with seemingly boundless energy with which she uses to serve.  Her love for her husband is evident as is her love for the Lord.

A Guest Post

by Erin Keenright

“But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart.”

Luke 2:19

 

This has always been one of my favorite verses in regards to the story of Christ’s birth – especially since Morgan’s birth.  If there’s one thing I can remember, it’s everything about the day Morgan was born.  I won’t bore you with another “how my child came into the world” story…I’m sure just about every one of us has heard more than our fair share.

What got me thinking about this verse is how God’s tremendous grace gives us all, whether mothers or not, things to ponder in our hearts…and He is not stingy with them, either.  When I think about the life that God has given me, He has not held back one little bit.

We are by no means wealthy or even overly comfortable, but we have a roof over our heads, food in our bellies, clothes on our backs, and people who love us.  It’s hard for me to feel sorry for myself even one little bit when I think about those who don’t have even that!

  I’ve seen beautiful sunsets, heard beautiful music, I’ve had a hand to hold when I was scared, friends to laugh and cry with…yet, I know there are PLENTY of folks who can’t say that.  Kind of puts things in perspective, doesn’t it?

What about those who have never heard of Jesus and God’s unfailing love and unending grace?  They’re out there, you know…no hope, no peace, starving for what we have every single day of our lives and somehow take for granted.
I remember when I saw “The Passion of the Christ”.  For those of you who haven’t seen it, I HIGHLY recommend it.  While none of us were actually there when our Lord was crucified, from what I can tell, it gives a pretty close description of the torture and physical, mental, and emotional turmoil Christ suffered on our behalf.  After the film was over, my eyes were filled with tears and I never wanted to sin again.  The thought of it made me physically ill.

Have I sinned since then?  You bet…countless times.  Thankfully, my Father never rolls up the welcome mat…no matter how badly I mess things up and, trust me, I’m pretty thorough at making a mess out of things.

I guess what I’m saying is this:  don’t think something in the Bible does not apply to you because you’re not in that exact situation.

Even before I became a mommy, I tried to remember how good I had it and ponder THOSE things in my heart.  God would then remind me to do what I could and take every opportunity to share them with others.  Not just the tangible, monetary things, but the ones that are REALLY important:  a smile to someone who needs it, a pat on the back for a job well-done, an ear just to listen, praying with someone who needs it, patience when others are impatient, compassion for someone who maybe doesn’t deserve it…this is how God uses us to reveal Himself to others.

Think about when you’ve needed those things and someone was there to fill that need.  That was more than just that person…that was your Heavenly Father putting His arms around you and saying, “I love you…no matter what…” 🙂
You may be thinking, “What about the people who DON’T have that…who’ve never had the opportunity to experience that???”  Those people are out there and it’s up to us to be God’s hands and eyes to those folks.  After all, we are the body of Christ.  Some of us are the legs and feet that go places, the hands that comfort and soothe or the eyes that see the need.  No one’s job is too big or too small.

Because of the chronic disease of sin in this world, life is hard and cruel at times and God knows this.  He gave us the cure for the disease and the tools to share and spread the cure wherever we go.  I say this to you as much to myself…don’t worry what others will think.  Think about the gratitude of the one you are helping.  You may not see it now, but if you ask God to give you His strength and wisdom, those seeds that are planted will bloom in a mighty way!  I am so grateful for the people who have helped me:  family members, friends, pastors and teachers.
Those moments are worth pondering.  Look back at your life, at the times when, no matter how small they may have seemed at the time, you were genuinely grateful to be in that moment.  On occasion, you would go back to those moments and relive them in your mind over and over again, like a favorite movie.  Can’t you just see Mary doing that as she watched her Son grow to be a man?  Can’t you just see her thanking her Father for His birth every single day of her life?

Like childbirth, there are countless times in life where we think it’s too much to bear.  We think we can’t go on and we want to give up.  I know I have and I still do at times.  Then, I look back on all the other stinky stuff God has not led, but CARRIED me through and I’m so grateful for even those most difficult of times.

Your Father is with you in everything…blessing you with the good and carrying us through the bad…and He always will.
I hope everyone has a very Merry Christmas.  Look for ways to share what God has given you, what He has poured out for you and your family…someone needs it, needs to see it, needs to hear it…and it will cause you to ponder and smile for years and years to come.

About Erin:

I got my first ever pedicure with Erin seven or so years ago.  She called me and said, "I want to take you somewhere.  It's a surprise".  We went out to eat and got pampered.  It was perfectly-timed, much needed encouragement.  Erin is a caretaker and her laughter is contagious.  She's a deep thinker and I'm so glad she thought to write this for us. She's also written a book. 

Click HERE to check out Erin's book: For the Love of God

I asked.

How do you decorate a Christmas tree without it looking like you have twelve years of different fads hanging on boughs?

She answered.

A Guest Post

by Karyl Horn

We are that family.  

We have a skinny, pre-lit tree that we dutifully set up each year.  Unfortunately, a section of the pre-lit lights has gone out.  And I mean GONE OUT.  We have pulled every bulb in a futile attempt to resurrect the missing lights, but to no avail.  And, of course, the section that has gone out is in the MIDDLE.  So each year, we put the tree together and then add a string of colorful lights to the middle.  Crazy…I know.  I decided this year that we would replace this pitiful tree however EVERY skinny tree I find only has clear lights – no color!  We just can’t do that.  MUST. HAVE. COLOR.

After rigging our tree into a usable state, we begin the journey through life that our decorations represent.  Whether a star that we found somewhere on a family trip or a colored handprint on a simple string that one of the ladies at church made with one of the boys when they were young – they ALL go on the tree.  Now keep in mind…this is a skinny tree for a reason.  We don’t have a huge den and we like to be able to see our tree at night, so it must go in the den.  We tried one of those great big trees long ago, but after having to relocate most of the furniture in the room to another location in the house - just to get the tree in place - we changed to the skinny model and haven’t looked back. But, I digress…on to the ornaments…so many ornaments…

We have had the blessing to know a sweet young lady that for many, many, years gave us “family” ornaments each Christmas.  We have everything from a fireplace with stockings to a family of teddy bears.  Each one special in its own way and each one personalized with our individual names and/or family name.  There are so many of them that they cover the top layers of two large boxes!  Year after year, it became a guessing game of what she would find and every time it was a joy to gather together and open up the box.

And then it happened.

Our sweet friend became ill and – before we could even take in the seriousness of her illness – she was gone.  It was November, right before Thanksgiving.  And then as the weeks progressed, we came to Christmas - a time we always enjoyed with her.  How were we going to do this?  We were barely learning life without her.

To try and move us in a healing direction, I asked my husband to get the tree out.  He dutifully pulled it out, rigged the extra string of lights, and had it standing in its appointed spot.  And then came in the boxes of ornaments…and we couldn’t open them.  We knew that the top layers of those boxes held all the years with our sweet friend – each one a memory of its own. What I thought would be a help for our family’s grief became a glaring reminder of the loss.  And so, we took the boxes back to our garage.

A beautiful thing happened that evening.  While sitting, staring at our bare tree, watching the lights twinkle within the branches, I noticed something glimmering.  It was a snowflake – a single, clear hard plastic snowflake that my mom had given me years earlier.  Where did it come from?  No clue.  (Obviously our ability at taking ornaments off of a tree pale in comparison to our ability to slather them on.)  Seeing that snowflake was a comfort as my mom had passed away just a few years earlier.  It was a dear reminder of all the times we had celebrated Christmas together.  It was in that moment that I realized we didn’t need to be afraid that the ornaments in the boxes would make our grief harder to bear.  Rather, they were going to serve to help us remember the moments, the times together and all of the joy we had shared with our dear friend.

No, we didn’t go running to the garage to grab the ornament boxes.  We let them sit out that year, much to the dismay of another dear friend.  She couldn’t bear the fact that we didn’t have ornaments and ended up leaving a large case of them on our doorstep.  This becomes more intriguing when you learn that she allowed two of her young adult children to pick them out.

They were SPARKLY.

And GREEN.

And ZEBRA striped.
That just makes me smile thinking about it.  Of course, we put them on the tree.  That year and the next.

Proverbs 17:17 –“A friend loves at all times…”

This is the year though.  I have already announced to the family that we will be unboxing all of our ornaments.  ALL OF THEM.  Our tree this year will be a journey like never before.  It will contain the memories of our children growing up, all of the fads that have come with the seasons of our lives, the many years we had with our friend Crystal, and the intermingling of sparkly, green and zebra striped ornaments…all overflowing with love.

Oh – and my mom’s snowflake will be there too.

Now go decorate your tree…and use EVERYTHING!

About Karyl:

Karyl is probably the most-level-headed person I know; just the kind of friend a girl needs in her life.  Her boy and mine have conquered many worlds together through the years via gaming.  I treasure their friendship and I treasure mine with Karyl.  Calm and sure-footed, she's such a woman. She's a led by the spirit kind of lady.  Besides all that she's crazy about Jesus.

If you'd like to write a guest post for my Christmas Writing Wish, send it on over to:

kristiburden@gmail.com

You'll be glad you did.  I'll be even gladder.

A Guest Post-by Karisa Glenn So I guess I should start by saying after having lost my mama,daddy and nana (my mom's mom who helped raise me) in 24 years that I DID my share of worrying with good cause.I worried about everything....about my marriage, husband, kids, job and the list goes on.

So what happened???

Well, of course prayer is always my "go to". But we are ALL human and succumb to the sin of worry if we are honest with ourselves. Eventually though, something happened. I discovered that I really worry for nothing. Me using time and energy to worry over things doesn't change the outcome of the situation at hand. I mean, just because I worry about how the results of my kids blood results are going to turn out, doesn't mean I will get positive results??? Right????  And just because I pray for positive results doesn't mean I'll get them either. I remember the night I got the call that my daddy had had his heart attack. I was 24, married with a little one that just turned 3 and scared to death. I was "next of kin" since mama died when I was 11. I didn't know what to do. I had some tough decisions to make. I worried and cried like crazy. I sat in the floor of the ER and prayed and begged God to not take my daddy. But...He did. Ultimately, the worry was in vain. But what I discovered was the praying and talking to God wasn't.  I knew my daddy was a Christian, I knew he was no longer in pain and I knew God needed him more than I did. That in turn caused me to need the Lord even more. I can pray about it...and I do. But what I now do as I've grown older and wiser and stronger in my faith is let it go...yes, the famous song from Frozen. I pray that God's will, not mine, be done. It doesn't mean I'll like it. It doesn't mean I'll EVER understand. It means my worrying WON'T change the outcome. It's hard not to worry. When your child is sick or hurt, it's almost instinct. It happens. But I have to remind myself quickly, it uses time and energy and takes away from time and energy that is BETTER spent with the Lord. When I get to that point...I tell him ALL about it.

I mean I give it all to Him.

I tell Him all that is on my mind and heart and how I feel...I have found it's ALWAYS the better choice. Again, I'm not saying it's easy, it's not. It's something I've learned to do through life experiences ...and I KNOW I'm now a stronger wife, mother, sister, friend and person because of taking so much worry out of the equation. About Karisa:

You have an invitation to write too.  Click on yesterday's post.

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