FIVE DAYS UNTIL CHRISTMAS!!!!!!!

Sunday, December 20, 2009.

Contest business: The winner of the I-Tunes gift card was…

Leslie Pennington!

Leslie if you will email me at leigh at leighfrance dot com I will get that in the mail to you this week. I promise it will get there before my Christmas card does. Thanks to everyone who signed up to follow my blog. Will have more contest just for my “followers” throughout the coming year. LOL, membership has its privileges.

Five days until Christmas and my list of things to do is feels like it’s longer then Santa’s and I will certainly be checking it more then twice to make sure I get everything taken care of this week.

Each year I tell myself, “Self, you need to start Christmas shopping in January, you need to put aside a certain amount of money each paycheck, you need to take a family picture in August so you can send out Christmas cards, etc...” And every Christmas I still find myself scrambling to know what to buy, never getting out Christmas cards, and getting bogged down, overwhelmed and frustrated during what should be a time of joy, praise, thanksgiving, and celebration.

This morning I am making out two lists. I will be listing the things I need to get done by Friday and asking WH and DD to help where they can, but my second list will be something I can do daily with my family or alone.

To think about this week for Mary and Joseph and what it meant to them. To imagine what they were experiencing 2,000 years ago this week. There was no Christmas. But there was a journey, a young woman traveling on a donkey. A woman who was very pregnant and far away from home. Far away from her mother and other women to help her. A woman who would deliver the Savior.

In the song, “Mary Did You Know,” the most powerful lyric to me is, “Mary did you know that the child that you delivered would soon deliver you?”



I don’t believe that Mary or Joseph had any idea of what was to come. If you knew what God’s ultimate plan was for your life do you think you could wrap your head around it? I know I never thought 10 years ago, 5 years ago, even 1 year ago I would be doing what I am now for my God.

I am going to make my two lists and become very intentional with making sure Christ is at the beginning, middle and end of every single day. I will go look at Christmas lights and remember the light of the world that came down and how the beauty of a Christmas tree will pale beside the light of my Jesus.

I will wrap my gifts and pray for each person that will receive it that not only will they know how much I care for them, but also that the gift I have given them pales in comparison to the gift from our heavenly Father.

I will slow down, way down, and realize that satan would love nothing more then for me to rush through all this and miss the real meaning. A birthday is a celebration and a chance to show love and appreciation to someone. But with Jesus’ birth a life was begun that became a gift beyond compare. Love came down and walked among men.

So, Mary did you know and my friend, do you know as well what the true meaning of this week. How are you going to slow down this week? What are you going to do? I would love to hear from you and in case I forget it on the list, have a wonderful and wonder filled Merry Christmas.