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Christmas for most is an exciting time of year. We are busy buying gifts for those we love, visiting with friends and family, and closing out another year of life. If we are not careful though, we can become so busy that we fail to remember what it is we are truly celebrating. We know in our heads it is the birth of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, but due to the busyness, He is often pushed to the side. I know that most of us do not do this purposely, but we are all more guilty of it than we realize. Today, I want to give you a few suggestions to help you keep Christ in Christmas.

1. Give Him a gift

A big part of the Christmas season is giving gifts to those we love. Yet so often, we forget to give a gift to the one whose birth we are celebrating; or worse, we even stop our regular giving so we can buy more gifts for others. Whether you realize it or not, that is a huge statement about you love or lack thereof for Him. My recommendation is to give to the organization He established, the church. Give to a special offering, a special project, or just add on something extra to your regular giving. Just don't forget to give to Jesus this year.

2. Read the Christmas Story

A great family tradition to establish is reading the Christmas story found in Luke 2:1-20 on Christmas morning as a family before opening gifts. My Dad always made sure we did this each year and I am so thankful. I have continued this in my family and it is always a special time. As your children are old enough to read, have them read all or part of it. Have a short time of prayer after you read the Christmas story to thank Jesus for coming to this wicked world for us. This is a great way to remind our children and us about what Christmas is truly about.

3. Be in Church

Far to often, we skip church services around Christmas to spend time with family and friends, or just due to the busyness of the time. Imagine if on your birthday, those you love skipped regularly scheduled events with you to spend more time with others while claiming they were celebrating you. We would be disappointed and hurt if those we love did that to us, and yet that is exactly what we do to Jesus when we skip out on church to celebrate Christmas with others.

As we celebrate Christmas this year, lets make sure that we keep Christ in Christmas.