Greetings My Dear sisters,
Melody thanks so much for those word i will be intouch soon. Taija is home from his long incarceration his girlfried obeyed the gospel a month ago. he's suppose to come to church tomarrow (lord willing) Did you get my thank you card i sent it to BB?
Ladies i've walked this journey for 25 yrs now and have always been perplexed by the holidays i never put up a tree or anything around xmas because i don't want to send a mixed message to those around me. Regarding Holloween the bible says shun every appearance of evil so should we be involved if this day has represented evil things or happeinings? i just want to be clear.

Now about xmas what should we do it's a glorious time of the year to be with friends and family so how should we handle this time of year. I love to see the lights in new york it makes me happy. So what should i do.

Thank your sister,

in christ stephanie

Greetings and grace sisters! It's been so long since I've logged on, but I've kept you all in my prayers, and I want to be more actively in responding and supporting, and also receiving the wonderful encouragement that I've gotten myself.

Regarding Christmas or any holidays, I truly enjoy the love, family and friendship that's shared around the holidays. I personally look at it as a wonderful opportunity as it's one of the few times of the year that the nation is focusing on our Lord and Savior Christ. I think many of us have missed out on the opportunity to share exactly why it was necessary for him to come in the world the way that He did. Our minister's approach has always been, to capitalize on the focus the world is putting on Christ at Christmas and share in truth why his birth, life and death were necessary. He did a wonderful sermon one year, called, "Are you ready for Christmas?" He was talking about Christ coming the first time in his birth, and will we be ready when Christ comes again?
I truly don't to anything different with my family and friends at Christmas, as I believe in representing in Spirit and Truth always. I don't says his birthday is on a certain day as we don't know, but I try to share truths about what happens when we're born in Him. God bless and hope this helps.

Alrayna, good to "hear" from you. You have been missed!

I think your answer is excellent. From everything that I've heard, it is more likely that Jesus was born in October (the shepherds couldn't stay in the fields with the flocks in December; it was too cold). In a bit of "weird thought", wouldn't it be ironic if Jesus was actually born on Halloween? (I'm not serious, ladies. It was just a "weird thought".) At Christmas, for only a few days, the world actually remembers that there WAS a birth. What a fantastic opportunity to tell them what it really means! I grew up with a Christmas tree, and last year, I had three of them in my house. (Plan to do that again this year, too.)

Hey Alrayna, so good to hear your "Voice" Been missing you dear friend.

Stephanie, you might want to read Romans 14. This chapter deals with people celebrating something and others not celebrating.

I grew up with Santa Claus, the easter bunny, the tooth fairy, etc,,, and it didn't hurt my faith. I was a child. I don't feel as if my parents lied to me or anything, it was all part of the spirit of things. I believe today, children are forced to grow up way to fast. They need the comfort that the pretend world can bring.

Whatever you decide to do for your family is the right thing to do. There is no wrong or right in this situation except for your conscience.

Take care dear friend.

Hi, This is an excellent question. Three years ago, I had an urge to write a book about Christmas and it was based in Colossians 4:5, that as Christians we are to "make the most of every opportunity." I had finally come to see a grand fertile time, that we'd missed out on, this time of year when Christ is so noticed is a wonderful opportunity to share our faith and what we know about the origin of the Christmas holiday, it was a birthday assigned to Jesus, to rival the pagen celebration of Mithras, the Sun god.

I kept asking God, "Are you sure?" I felt like I needed to remind him of my background in the Church of Christ, and that we'd traditinally not celebrated the birth of Christ in corporate worship times.

But every roadblock I threw up or that just happened through other means were removed. Five women from different religious backgrounds joined me on this project, we landed a literary agent, a publisher and the book debuted this fall.

Already we have been on radio programs, soon TV and other Web casts, our blog with more Christmas tips is getting about 50 visits a day.

All that to give this suggestion: humbly ask God for direction and what you can do this year to spread the gospel during this threshold of interest in Christmas. God can use the world's interest in Christmas to turn their hearts toward the Christ.

Even Muslims and Jews (some)in our country and other parts of the world find this a joy-filled holiday. C. S. Lewis said Christmas is a "way past watchful dragons." We can say things at Christmas that might be rejected at other times through the year.

By the way, in our book, we have sections called Gingerbread Genealogy and we tell the history of Christmas traditions and we do tell about the origin of Christmas and that it is an assigned birthday now celebrated around the world, although the assumed date is more likely to be spring when lambs are born.

I'm more excited about Christmas than ever before because the Lord has opened a path for more attention to Him. And I think that calls for rejoicing and prayers for those God will seek through this time of interest.

We have more info at our blog. Drop by and leave a comment or just catch up on some of our fun postings of our families' traditions.

Many, many blessings...CathyMessecar.com

Hey, Mary W., I'm using yoru sourdough bread starter recipe today. I let my bread starter starve while finishing up a manuscript, but I'm resurrecting the starter with your recipe! Thanks, Mary....

http://scrapbookofchristmasfirsts.blogspot.com/