I just deleted a post that took me around an hour to write, it was titled "why we said goodbye to santa." I went on and on about how much I love Christmas, and why we felt the need as a family to not include santa in our Christmas. But as I kept rambling on and on I realized how defensive I was about the whole thing, and that really our reasons why we ditched santa don't matter. I know that they matter to us, but do you really care why we don't have santa? I'm not trying to persuade anyone from it, simply explaining myself. And to be completely honest I'm not sure why I ever felt that need. The bottom line is that we have nothing against santa, he just isn't for our family. Enough said.
The main reason I deleted that post is because I felt it took away from what I really wanted to tell you about. Instead of going on and on about what we aren't doing I am excited to tell you about what we are doing.
Last year I stumbled across an amazing blog while wasting using my time wisely looking through Pinterest. The post was about how this mother had decided to get rid of elf on the self and how she wanted to make her Christmas a little more simple. She did it for the whole reason of teaching her children what Christmas is really about, Christ's love for us. She came up with a brilliant plan, it's called Light 'Em Up. You can read her original post here: Light 'Em Up.
Light 'Em Up, is about making our light shine for Christ, about showing the world who he really is. It is about doing little things for people, making them feel loved and appreciated. The thing that I love the most about Light 'Em Up, is that it isn't about me, it isn't about doing things so I feel good.
It is about doing things anonymously so that God gets all the glory. I don't know about you but it is so easy for me to start out doing something for God but then somewhere it becomes more about me.
How I worked so hard on that mission trip, how I stayed up all night with the teens, how I sacrificed time with the preacher or money to give away. What a good little girl I am. The core of me is selfish, even with the best intentions of serving Christ I can find a way to make it about me feeling good about what I've done. I don't want to be this way, and I definitely don't want to teach my girls to live this way either.
I was so excited about finding this blog, I felt like someone was reading my mind. The things she was saying were exactly what I was thinking/feeling. The only sad part was that I found it pretty close to Christmas and we were unable to participate. Oh I had good intentions, but they didn't get me far. So last year I made up my mind that I would plan ahead of time next year, that I would be ready.
I am happy to tell you that I have done just that, December 1st our family will be joining with many others to Light Up our community. So why am I telling you about this? I am telling you because I want to do it with us. Courtney makes it so easy to get involved, check out all her amazing resources here.
We have made a plan to do something everyday up until Christmas (starting Dec 1st) to help someone else. Lots of the things we have planned are small things to show Christ's love to others. I will be sharing some of those things with you along the way, only with the hope to inspire others to do the same.
Christmas is my favorite time of the year, but it is so easy for me to let it become about everything it is not about. We are doing Light 'Em Up in hopes from keeping that from happening.
Will you join us?
Let's do it together, let's show our communities the Light of the World!
If you want to join us, leave me a comment below, there are strength in numbers. Let's help and encourage each other along the way.
I am so excited not only to do this, but to do it with my family. To teach my girls the real meaning of Christmas.
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