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When you think of Christmas, what comes to mind? Buying presents, sending out Christmas cards, activities for the kids, parties, family gatherings and reaching out to others in need may be on your list. All of these can be a part of making wonderful family memories, but if we aren’t careful, we can find ourselves getting out of balance, spending more money than we can afford, taking on more activities than we want which can leave us exhausted and in more debt for the New Year. This year, The Rock of Gainesville wants to encourage you to think ahead so you can plan and celebrate your holidays in a way that will leave a smile on your face come January 1st, 2010.................................... ........................................
There are two ingredients that are essential to making your Christmas a success.
The first one is to remember what Christmas is all about. Christmas is the celebration of Jesus’ birthday. Can you imagine forgetting your child’s birthday or your own? Of course not! So, take time to reflect and remember the birth of our wonderful Savior, Jesus and the purpose for which he was born. He was born for the sole purpose of dying for our sins that we may have a personal and intimate relationship with our Father in heaven both on earth and for eternity. How awesome is that!
Keeping the purpose of Christmas in mind will help you to determine how you want to celebrate. Since it is about celebrating the birth of our Savior, the question that may come to mind is how would He want to celebrate his birthday? I think it is safe to say that our biggest gift to Him would be to remember the two greatest commandments which are to love God with all our heart, mind and soul and love our neighbor as we love ourselves.
This brings us to the second ingredient, people. Let this Christmas not be about things but let it be about the people in your world…your family, your friends, your community. Your Christmas may include presents & parties but more importantly, let it be about taking time to enjoy our family, friends and helping those in need. Your children don’t need you to go into debt for you to have a great Christmas, they need you. Your children will probably not remember all their gifts ten years from now, but they will remember sitting around a fire toasting marshmallows, drinking hot chocolate and telling jokes and sharing stories.
You don’t have to buy a gift for every single Aunt, Uncle or cousin. Uncle John doesn’t need another Christmas tie. This year, why not put all the family names in a hat and pick one person to buy for so everyone gets something. Then if you have extra money in your budget, sponsor a family in need for Christmas or find a child that won’t have any Christmas without other people helping. 
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