12 days of Christmas

It is 12 days until Christmas.  That fact made me think of the song the 12 days of Christmas.  Those 12 days started on Christmas Day and ended January 5th.

As a child, my mother refused to take the Christmas tree down until after those 12 days.  At the same time, Christmas was not allowed to begin until after Thanksgiving. 

Christmas time was it's own, unique celebration.  It was the celebration of Jesus Christ's birth. We didn't celebrate our own birthdays very much but we always made sure that Jesus birth was celebrated.  The celebration changed from the time that I was young to my teen years.

My family changed.  My parents went from attending church as two people sitting in pews to having a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.  Jesus came outside of the church and home with us during the week.  It didn't make us perfect but it did get us reaching towards perfection and the principles taught in the bible. 

I look around at the world today and my heart breaks.  The commercial side of Christmas is beginning closer and closer to Halloween.  I don't think it will ever come before Halloween because the sales are so big for that Holiday.  Jesus is being removed more each year from the world around us.  His message is getting changed to be politically correct.

The message of our Lord and Savior is very simple.
Jesus loves you!  He wants to have a personal relationship with you and wants you to have a personal relationship with him.  He shares the Word of God with us through the scriptures (what is written in the Bible.) 

Remember most of all Jesus is the Reason for the Season!  You can't have Christmas without Christ.