MEDITATION:
Written by Susan Smart, a Christian educator and writer.
Christmas traditions have played an important part in our family holidays to emphasize the true meaning of Christmas – the birth of Jesus Christ. Family traditions can bring lasting bonds within a family too. These in turn can be passed along through the generations and give children as well as adults special memories and a sense of roots and belonging. We may consider the Christmas tradition of reading the Christmas story a given, but after hearing others talk, it often gets overlooked in the hustle and bustle of opening gifts and preparing a big meal. Take time this Christmas to sit down with your family either on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day to read the story of the first Christmas in the Bible. When our children were little, we would have them add the individual pieces to our Nativity set as we read the story. As they have gotten older, we no longer put our wrapped gifts under the tree. Instead, we set up our Nativity set under our Christmas tree to represent God’s greatest gift – Jesus! Setting up a Nativity set is a wonderful family tradition in itself! Still another family tradition we have is that the kids may open one single gift early on Christmas Eve. As they do we emphasize that God has given us the single greatest gift that was ever given in His Son, Jesus.
SCRIPTURE:
Luke 2:16-17
“ So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger. When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child.”
LINK TO CHRISTMAS MUSIC/VIDEO:
Pathways Press.com 
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