The Greatest Season

I love Christmas! I love the decorations, I love the cheerful countenances of the people around me, I love the fabulous sales at stores, I love getting presents, I love singing Christmas Caroles, I love visiting the nursing homes, I love all the yummy goodies we bake at Christmas. I love just about everything there is about Christmas (except the freezing cold weather!). But the greatest reason I love Christmas is because of the most precious gift I have ever received. Over 2000 years ago, my Creator looked down upon this wicked sinful earth and decided it was the time to send a redeemer. So he allowed a humble woman to give birth to HIS precious son - Jesus Christ. This young woman had the opportunity to raise the Messiah -- the one who has the power to redeem us all. My mind still struggles to comprehend how God could be willing to leave His palace in Heaven and confine himself to the body of a mortal man. Jesus was still God and yet He became man. He suffered through the changes and development that each of my children have to go through. He felt pain when he got hit by a rock or when His teeth came in. He felt what it was like to be hungry. And yet, he CHOSE to suffer in this life and He CHOSE to die a painful death so that I could experience freedom and life. None of this makes sense to me other than to know that GOD LOVED ME enough to do this. How can I do anything less than to show my thankfulness to Him by teaching my children of God's love.

While I love Christmas, I am enjoying passing down to my children the reason for Christmas. Oh, we talk about Santa and how Santa is not real but is based on the life of a real man who gave everything to help children. We have fun watching Christmas cartoons about rudolph and angels and Santa Clause, they have even enjoyed giving and receiving Christmas presents. But, my prayer is that as my children grow and someday move out on their own with their own families, that they will keep the truth of Christmas in the heart and will not only celebrate what Christmas is today, but that every day of every year they will celebrate that first Christmas that took place so long ago in a stable in the midst of a busy town with only the angels and the Shepherds to know the glory of that wonderful night.

Merry Christmas from JA and Tracy Hall
Kara, Ezekiel, Andy, and Lydia

To see photo's from our Christmas, please click here