Tis the season… to pull your hair out!  NO! That’s the wrong attitude, isn’t it?

I remember one time on my Mom’s birthday (Dec 13), in between baking the cake, finding a birthday rather than Christmas present for her, buying mass quantities of funny cards (she’d rather have funny cards than gifts), baking Christmas cookies, grocery shopping now so I don’t get stuck in the mad frenzy of last minute shoppers, and on and on and on, I may have developed the wrong attitude!  Big Time.  I wanted perfection.

In the search for the PERFECT CHRISTMAS, we often forget the real meaning of Christmas.  Alpha Hubby and I watched “Shrek the Halls” on television last year.  We love the Shrek movies.  We’re big animated fans.  If you don’t know who Shrek is, this Devotional may be lost on you!

Anyway, Shrek is an Ogre.  He has never celebrated Christmas before.  Ogres don’t celebrate.  Donkey, his friend, was pumped up about the holiday and began 150 days before Christmas to chat to Shrek about the day.  Shrek ignored him up until the day before, when he finally realized his wife Fiona was super psyched about celebrating their first Christmas together.

So he goes on an information search to find out what he needs to do to make Fiona’s first Christmas together a PERFECT CHRISTMAS.  Needless to say, in his single-minded bullheaded desire for a PERFECT CHRISTMAS, he failed miserably. And made everyone around his miserable.

In the end, he learns the perfect Christmas is about love, family and friends, not perfect cookies, decorations, gifts, and “moments” such as sitting before a beautiful fire in the fireplace sipping cocoa with those angelic children or grandchildren at your feet waiting for you to read the Christmas story, with NO screaming and yelling, “gimmie that, no no it’s MINE – mom he touched me” sounds wafting throughout the house.

This Christmas remember the most important thing – celebrate Jesus.  How?  Give of yourself, give love, and spread peace this Christmas.  Spread the love of God everywhere you go.  Give a kind word to a harried shopper.  Let someone with less in their basket go ahead of you in the checkout line.  Put quiet money in the Salvation Army bucket – i.e., not noisy coins.

No matter how strapped for money you think you are shopping for your family this Christmas, there are others in dire straits that make you look wealthy.  You have a few dollars to share with those in need.

Just a simple smile and saying hello to someone who looks like a Scrooge can make a difference.  Look for opportunities to minister love to others.  Those opportunities are everywhere, but most especially during this holiday season.  Think outwardly, seeking to help others first over yourself and your own needs.   You’ll be amazed how good it makes you feel.

And then you will be spreading the real meaning of Christmas – the love of God.

Celebrate JESUS.  MERRY CHRISTMAS