What do you want for Christmas?

Have you have finished your Christmas shopping? If you are like me, I shop up until Christmas Eve -- even after Christmas depending on when I am going to exchange gifts. Sometimes the hardest part about Christmas shopping is finding the right gift for each person. Most people appreciate money or a gift card -- at least I do.

A Christmas list really helps because you know you are buying something the person really wants. It is sad to see how many people line up to return gifts at the stores after Christmas. Often people will "regift" an item they do not want. Those of us who use Amazon know there is an online "wish list." You can make that list public so your friends and family can know what to buy. I put a lot of things on my list I would not have wanted when I was a child. I told my daughter when you get older, things such as socks and underwear become much more desirable.

Some of the things on my list are nostalgic. About five years ago I started shaving with one of those vintage Gillette razors with butterfly doors that twist to open to add or remove a double edge razor blade. I enjoy getting shaving supplies for Christmas now, but when I was a teenager I would think, "Stetson aftershave again?" Now, when I splash on some of those classic aftershave lotions, I have pleasant memories of the men in my family. There are smells I associate with Christmas, like evergreen, peppermint, and new electronics like the walkie talkies I received one Christmas morning when I was a child.

When we decorate for Christmas, we pull out our old ornaments and get sentimental. We have memories from past holidays spent with people we love who are no longer with us. Sadly, we have become reminded of how fragile life is in 2020. No one has ever been promised tomorrow. Each day is a gift in and of itself.

What do you want for Christmas? Is your greatest desire for more stuff? Matthew 6:19-20 says, "Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal." Material things only satisfy us temporarily. Like the saying goes, "It's the thought that counts." Do you remember everything you were given last year? How about the year before? We remember the giver more than the gifts.

The greatest gift of Christmas is not the material things. As much as we love our family and friends, Christmas is not about them either. If you choose to be negative about Christmas because of the over-commercialization, or if you are sad at Christmas because someone has died, I understand. We must remind ourselves for followers of Jesus, Christmas is about him, not us.

That famous verse, John 3:16 says, "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life." Evergreens are used to decorate at Christmas for this reason. While all other trees have lost their foliage and look to be dead during the winter months, the pine tree is still full and green. Instead of eternal condemnation and death, we are given a precious gift -- eternal life and a pardon from our sin.

When we appreciate who Jesus is and what he has done for us, we become givers. If you are sad at Christmas, put your faith and trust in Jesus. Hebrews 13:5 tells us, "Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have, for he has said, 'I will never leave you nor forsake you.'"

At Christmas, we celebrate Emmanuel, which means, "God is with us. As Corrie Ten Boom once said, "You may never know that Christ is all you need, until Christ is all you have." Have you received the ultimate gift of Christmas?