Christmas Blues?

May God receive honor this Christmas, He sent His Son as the greatest gift ever.

Merry Christmas, and God's blessings be upon you and yours.

The world has gotten us so accustomed to pleasing others through the giving of gifts, and you’re right, we have lost sight of the reason for the season. The headlines are all around us, more doom, gloom and turmoil ahead, spending is down and depression is up. What are we to do? After all it's Christmas, the time for joy, the time for giving and more importantly the time for receiving. I'll admit it wasn't long ago when I would spend, spend, spend, max out credit cards and do whatever it took to make those around me happy, but was I really making them happy? For a short period of time, probably yes, but soon after the joy and happiness is gone and it's back to reality, and for many the greatest gift of all often goes unopened. The free gift God gave us, the gift of salvation and everlasting life. As I've matured in my relationship with God I've realized that it's not all about presents and making others happy. It's about sharing the love of Christ, now more than ever we need him in our lives because he will provide and is always there for us to turn to no matter what the headlines.

It is sad that it takes us too long to practically discover the real meaning of Christmas.

but I hope you and yours had a good Christmas. We had a great Christmas this year. We, (my 4 adult children, their spouses and kids) decided to forego gift giving this year. It was actually very nice. We focused on the Reason for the season and a blessed time was had by all. Didn't miss the gift giving at all.

Hope your 2009 will be happy, healty and prosperous, John. Keep up the good work.