Infected with the spirit

I've been infected. Infected with the holiday spirit! I'm not depressed about Christmas anymore.

Our small group met at Starbucks last night. Then we got in my car and drove to a few different neighborhoods that have been decorated for Christmas (check out the picture above). It was amazing. The houses were beautiful. There was so much work put in to decorating them for everyone to enjoy. It was great. There were a couple girls with their dad in one driveway serving hot chocolate to everyone walking around. They weren't selling it, just giving it away. It was such a sweet thing to do!

Then on the news this morning there was a story about Toys for Tots and how they haven't gotten as many donations this year as they have in years past. Due to this lack of donations, there are about 2 million kids that aren't going to get toys this year (I think that figure is correct)! Can you believe that!?! It's amazing. It's really humbling to realize that there are people out there who aren't celebrating Christmas because they can't afford to. Here I am complaining about not having a Christmas tree and Mike being grumpy about Christmas and there are people out there who won't have a warm place to even spend the holiday. Wow! It just puts things in perspective for me.

The reason we celebrate Christmas is not for the tree and the presents and the stockings. It's the celebration of Christ's birth and the beginning of our salvation. Christmas will be great because we'll get to spend it with people we love in a warm, dry home. We'll open gifts from each other and be grateful that we are even in a position to give gifts to each other. It just humbles me and makes me remember that there is a whole lot more to this holiday than the smell of the Christmas tree and a full stocking hung by the fire.

Merry Christmas!