Thanksgiving is now over and the Christmas rush has begun. We feel it right after the day of giving thanks to God–the very next day brings the “Black Friday” sales. I have nicknamed it “black-eye Friday” because of the craziness that often entails as mobs of people dive after bargains in favorite stores. I never go out on Black Friday, but it seems some of the best deals also come up online at this time of year.
Whatever the holiday, whatever the celebration, as Christian mothers, we have a great duty and privilege of keeping our families’ thoughts Christ-centered. We can be a great help to our husbands in this, as often they are busy with work responsibilities, and are away from the home most of the day. But we are at home, guarding and guiding our home life with our precious children. There is so much we can do, and I think we often forget the great influence we have on these precious lives entrusted to our care. Every day is a gift from the Lord, but the holidays are a special time that we should especially direct our families’ focus Heavenward, especially since they have become so commercialized.
How can we do this? We can think of each holiday or celebration as a time for special remembrance to the Lord, and a time of giving thanks. We can pray with our children (as we should do every day), but giving special thanks to God for whatever He gives. On Thanksgiving, we have a special time of thanks, on Christmas, we can remember the wonderful gift in God sending His only begotten Son in the form of flesh, on Resurrection Sunday, we can especially praise God for Jesus’ sacrifice for our sins, and His being risen again from the dead, without which, we would have no hope! On birthdays, we always say a prayer of thanksgiving for the person whose birthday we are celebrating.
We also should be careful to guard against the materialism and commercialism that is so prevalent with most of our celebrated holidays. We can do this by keeping the emphasis on purchasing gifts to a minimum, and focusing more on time spent together as a family, making memories together. This doesn’t mean that we can’t get our loved ones a few special gifts, but it would be wise to think well on these purchases to make them ones that will benefit our children spiritually (such as a new Bible or a good Christian book), or providing something they actually need. Of course, it is a kindness to get a gift that they would enjoy as well, as long as it encourages good behaviors instead of negative ones. I hope to write a more in-depth post on this soon.
We may also have some special traditions that we keep around the holidays to encourage thinking upon the Lord, instead of just what is temporal. For example, for Thanksgiving, we have made it a tradition to have a “Thankful Box”. We also usually read about the first Thanksgiving, read Scriptures on thankfulness, and/or read some of the Thanksgiving proclamations given by past U.S. presidents.
It is a wonderful blessing to be able to guide and guard our homes, so may we do it joyfully, and with much conviction of this high calling, even in our holiday celebrations.
You may wish to see our new Thankful Box for 2018 here.
painting is “The Christmas Kiss” by George Bernard O’Neill
