Don't Let Them Take Away Your Christmas

"For unto us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace."   ---Isaiah 9:6

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Man, it's so sad. Following some Youtube videos, I read comments resembling this one:

Not this year. My family isn't celebrating Christmas. 2020 has just been too awful and we've lost our heart for it.

Oh dear.

Though of course, I'll add here if that's your mindset, you're free to follow it. At least that's one freedom we still have, the one of not doing certain things we'd rather not.

But as for me and my house? Uh, no. No ridiculous year nor any corrupt governor (Cuomo shwomo) is gonna ruin my Christmas! No one will tell us what we can do inside our own home. No way.

(A shocking thing in 2020? The way some friends quickly caved to allowing local government dictate what they can/cannot do within their four walls. Good grief.)

Anyway, if the government had stolen our money/way of earning? We'd still celebrate.

We'd unearth boxes of old Christmas decor and spread it around the house as a family.

Melt down old candles and make new ones to light or give as gifts.

Mail out the old Christmas cards we'd never used.

Play Christmas music.

We'd bake gifts and use up all the flour and sugar and etc., if necessary, for jar gifts, believing God to provide money for more.

Hand out cards with thank-you's to neighbors and delivery people.

Daily watch an old Christmas dvd or online video with the family.

We'd craft things. Check out Pinterest (etc.) for ideas using items around the house.

Go Christmas caroling. Stand outside neighbors homes and sing. Drive around to see lighted houses.

Read the Bible story of Jesus' birth. Invite folks over. Drink hot chocolate. We'd hang stockings with tiny gifts given from the heart, even our own small things we still cherished.

Well, you get it. 

We'd never let any corrupt government's rules steal Christmas and giving and joy from us. Never. Ever.

Discouragement seeds once planted in the heart?  They grow like proverbial weeds and soon the pathways out are hidden. Overgrown.

"Let not your heart be troubled..." Discover ways to push past lethargy and despair.

Never, ever let any person, negative circumstance or an unfair year steal your God-given passion for His every-morning gift of Life. 

Never lose gratitude for His incredible, marvelous gift of Jesus.

As we seek Christ, we will find him, follow him, and have Christmas’s spirit, not just one fleeting day a year, but as a companion forever. (Thomas S. Monson)

“These times are too progressive. Everything has changed too fast. Railroads and telegraphs and kerosene and coal stoves -- they're good to have but the trouble is, folks get to depend on 'em.”
― Laura Ingalls Wilder, The Long Winter  (Only if you've learned to read between the lines of my posts do you know why I included this quote.)

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These 'vlogmas videos' have certainly put the Christmas spirit into me this year! Each morning I can hardly wait to bounce out of bed and watch the next one.

A bit of Christmas at Hobbit Cottage

Don't have official canning jars (they've been sold out for months) for making jars-with-mixes gifts, etc? Just wash off the labels of jars you have in your home/refrigerator and use those, instead. 

Life's way too short to obsess over stuff which doesn't matter.

“Then the Grinch thought of something he hadn't before! What if Christmas, he thought, doesn't come from a store. What if Christmas...perhaps...means a little bit more!”
― Dr. Seuss, How the Grinch Stole Christmas!

"For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses." ... Matthew 6:14,15