Tis the Season…
Merry Christmas to my readers! I am sitting here on Christmas morning while the traditional breakfast is cooking. All are sleeping (except me), and I try not to think about all the things that have yet to be prepared before the traditional holiday feast.
I tried my best to get everything done ahead of time, I’ve had lots of help from one daughter. The other daughter has a cold, and my husband is recovering from surgery. Poor Danielle! She has done so much to help me, while also helping her father and sister.
Tis the Season to be nursing…
The real treat is that my father is here to celebrate with us. His annual visit is 
actually a tradition for my family, but the tradition was interrupted last year when Dad traveled to Utah to visit my brother for Christmas and be there for the birth of his latest great-grandchild! (I couldn’t complain about it since he—and Mom when she was alive—spent nearly every Christmas with us. So I “graciously” waited until January for his visit. (I think that was when my family cowered in the coat closet for a few days, but I digress).
Tis the Season to have family visit…
I published a third novel in October. I briefly thought I could have another published by mid-December in time for the holidays, you know, to be gifts for Christmas. Alas, it was not to be. By Thanksgiving I was texting my editor and hyperventilating. Fortunately, she talked me down. Now I have a more reasonable deadline. (Please forgive me.)
Tis the Season to be waiting…
For the Warren family, this was a practical holiday season. For the girls, a new 
bed, and a new desk chair and floor mat, and my husband, in spite of surgery got me the most romantic, wonderful gift I could ever want—a new front bumper for my sweet little car. Some of you are saying, “Now hold on a minute. Your husband got you a bumper for your car for Christmas? That’s ridiculous!”
Believe it or not, I was thrilled! Due to a little mishap with a rubber cone—no, I was not driving—my car had taken on the appearance of Toothless in the Disney movie How to Train Your Dragon. It looked so sad missing the lower half of the bumper! I’m ashamed to say it but I wouldn’t back into any parking spot because I was embarrassed that people would see that bumper! (Please don’t tell my car!)
Tis the Season to be shopping???
It has been so nice to hear the words “Merry Christmas” spoken freely this year. I don’t know if anyone else has noticed it, but I see and hear it everywhere. I’ve also noticed that many homes are displaying nativities in their front yards. It’s refreshing. Of course, that is the real reason we celebrate Christmas—the birth of the Christ child, Jesus.
Tis the season to remember what Christmas is about…
When Adam and Eve sinned in the garden of Eden, we were forever separated from our Heavenly Father. Therefore, He sent His Son, Jesus, to be born in a lowly manger, grow up in a Jewish household, have an earthly ministry for a three-year period, and die for our sins on the cross to redeem us from our rebellious, sinful ways. But there’s a catch. It’s not what you think it is. Right now you are probably wondering if you have to give a lot of money to a church, or do a lot of good deeds, or be a missionary to some foreign part of the world. All of those are good things, but the catch has nothing to do with what we do.
Salvation is the ultimate Christmas gift. You cannot work for it; you cannot earn it. All you have to do is accept it—Christ’s free gift of salvation through simple childlike faith.
This holiday season, remember that the best gift of all is a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.
Thank you for sharing! Hope 2017 is filled with blessings for you and yours.