Schedule Some Quiet Time for Christmas Devotions Each Day

I know, the holidays can be pretty busy. I know I have a lot going on - not to mention the fact that we just got back from a mid-December trip to San Diego.

But, I'm not letting the holidays frazzle me. Out of town guests. Parties. Cooking. Gift Shopping. It's enough to make anyone feel the opposite of joyful.

This is not good because after all, isn't that the point? That we take some time to feel the joy of Christ's birth?

The solution is to take some quiet time to pray, read the Bible, and read some devotionals. They don't even need to be Christmas devotionals - they can be about what you want.

There are plenty of devotionals online. You can also buy a book filled with your favorites to have on hand whenever you need a spiritual boost.

Countdown to Christmas - Are You Ready?

It's now December 16 and Christmas is nine days away. Are you ready? We just got back from a trip, and I have A LOT of cleaning to do before I have the peace of mind to decorate how I should. I did some shopping before Thanksgiving, but have not continued since then.

But one thing I have been doing is pondering the reasons why the season exists. So, I am not be prepared by material standards, but by spiritual ones, I am certainly getting there.

This week, I will take care of the material things. There is nothing wrong with them - as long as I don't do so at the expense of everything else.

Make Daily Christmas Devotionals Part of Your Routine

I find that it is important to find some quiet time each day to pray, read the Bible, and read devotionals. Now that it is Christmas time, you can read daily Christmas devotionals instead of your regular devotionals. I find that spending a few minutes of my day reading about Christ's Birth and other reflections such as the important of gift giving, it helps me focus on what is really important during this time of year.

If you need to establish a quiet time of your own, here are some ideas.

• Take a daily walk and spend it praying. When you get back from your walk and after you stretch, read scripture and take a few minutes to read your devotionals.
• Pray throughout the day and make sure to do some reading whenever you can.
• Some people like to make it a routine to walk up each morning, pray, and read the Bible.
• You can also get Christmas devotionals and Bible readings on a CD to listen to during your morning commute. Or, upload the mp3's into your portable mp3 player.

Even if you can only spend five or ten minutes a day, that can help considerably.

A List of My Favorite True Meaning of Christmas Devotionals

I love reading devotionals. Lately, I've been focusing my efforts on the true meaning of Christmas. So, I want to share with you a list of my favorite Christmas devotionals:

• True Meaning of Christmas by Captain Carol Williams
• Letter from Jesus - Remember My Birthday
• 12 Days of Christmas Devotionals at About.com
• An Ornament for Christmas - Julia Bettencourt

I know, there are a ton of devotionals out there. If you only have time to read one or two a day, it can be frustrating to sift through all the devotionals that are out there to find the good ones.

What is the Christmas Spirit?

The last article I posted talks about "The Christmas Spirit" and offers practical advice for holding on to that feeling, even after Christmas is over.

But what is "The Christmas Spirit" really? Some say that is the feeling of goodwill and happiness that comes over you because it is a joyous time of year.

Let's take that one step further. Why is it a joyous time of year? The Christ-centered answer is because it is the celebration of the birth of Jesus. This is the event that marks the beginning of the the Christian faith, and the teachings of the New Testament that form the cornerstone of our beliefs.

And, Christ's birth led to his eventual death and resurrection, which was the ultimate sacrifice.

Don't Let Go of the Christmas Spirit

by J Gardner

The holiday season always seems like a whirlwind of shopping, parties, pageants, and family gatherings, a month or two of furious, but joyful, activity, leading up to Christmas and the New Year celebration. By the time it's all over, most of us need a breather, a bit of time to relax and reflect and renew.

No matter how wonderful the holidays have been, by January many families experience a kind of celebration withdrawal. Most of us naturally miss the lights and the music and the fellowship of the holiday season, and the gray winter days of the next few months just seem to emphasize the fact that the wonderful feelings of Christmas are over, for nearly another year.

But the feelings generated by the season leading to Christmas need not vanish completely, for the calendar, beyond December. Though Santa Claus's visit is the high point of the holiday season for families with children, there are many other aspects of these days that can be kept fresh and alive, throughout the year.

It's wonderful that many families donate clothes and toys to their favorite charities before Christmas, to help others who may be less fortunate. But donations drop off in January, as the holiday season ends. It's the perfect time for a family to gather last year's gently-used toys and drop them off at a donation center.

Clothes that have been replaced at Christmas or outgrown are also perfect for a January donation. Families can make January a time for collecting and preparing those toys they won't need any more. They can make the trip to the donation center a real outing, knowing that they are bringing joy, like the joy of the holidays, to someone else's family.

There are many activities, like volunteering, that families engage in throughout the holidays, which are just as rewarding and necessary the rest of the year. Once a family has experienced the joys of giving and gathering at Christmas, there's no reason to let those feelings lie dormant for the rest of the year. The holiday feelings can be year-round feelings.

About the Author

Imaginary Greetings assists thousands of families globally by enhancing and extending their children's once in a lifetime magical beliefs like not ever before possible. You too can make this happen with a letter from Santa Claus.

Christmas Holiday Traditions

by Roger Thompson

Christmas is an annual holiday that celebrates the birth of Jesus. Christmas festivities often combine the commemoration of Jesus' birth with various secular customs, many of which have been influenced by earlier winter festivals. The date as a birthdate for Jesus is traditional, and is not considered to be his actual date of birth. As the autumn breeze blows summer away, the fall leaves begin to drop from the trees and everyone begins to bundle up and prepare for the chilly weather. The color of the season turn to bright orange, a golden yellow, browns and reds as everyone begins to prepare for the first days of autumn and Halloween. And yet, right there on the shelf, next to the jack-o-lantern is Santa himself.

What has happened to the holiday traditions? For the sake of commercialism, stores now decorate the shelves with Halloween candy and Christmas stockings. It was once customary to allow each holiday it's own time for celebration and merriment before allowing the next to breeze into the markets retail aisles. Gone is this policy and in its place is a department store crammed with Halloween decorations, turkey platters and artificial Christmas trees. It is as if we are in the fast lane of holiday celebrations, how long until commercialism combines them into one giant event.

I remember the fun of seasonal shopping, anticipating the arrival of the Halloween costumes, candy, ghosts and goblins filling the aisles and the shopping carts, undisturbed by the Thanksgiving turkey or Santa and his elves. Happy Halloween was not seen on the same aisle as Merry Christmas, because the two holidays were never being sold at the same time. Some Stores held onto custom much longer that their competitor's and did not decorate or sell their Christmas specialties until the day after Thanksgiving. It was impossible to buy a cup of Christmas blend until the early morning hours on the day after Thanksgiving shopping extravaganza, while on the way to see the Christmas decorations at Nordstrom.

It once was a time-honored tradition that the phrase "Merry Christmas" was never seen or heard and Santa absolutely never arrived at the malls until after the turkey had been cleared away from the Thanksgiving table. Why has the need to increase sales and generate revenue forced us to sacrifice the pleasure and joy found in celebrating each and every holiday? You do not have to see Christmas decorations or hear "Merry Christmas" to purchase Christmas gifts, so why the need to bundles holiday sales into one bulk shopping experience?

In our house, we still recognize and celebrate each holiday as it arrives. In the fall we celebrate the seasonal change by picking apples and hosting a neighborhood cider press party, making cider from freshly picked apples. In October we decorate and prepare for a large Halloween party filled with ghosts, goblins and skeletons. In November we gather around the table to give Thanks for the years blessings and in December we welcome the Christmas spirit inviting friends and family to celebrate a Merry Christmas together in our home.

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Roger Thompson writes for Leading Portal for Home Improvement,cash back rewards,weight loss & hoodia