What traditions does your family have when it comes to Christmas gifts?

Do some of your family members like to give “prank” gifts?

This seems to be the specialty of a lot of Dads. Kids unwrap a gift from Dad to find an iPad box, and squeal with glee. When they open the box, however, they discover that inside are a bunch of eye pads! Thanks, Dad!

Or perhaps your family likes to disguise what the gift really is by wrapping it in a way that leaves you guessing. You might receive a large box, but when you unwrap it you find that it contains a series of increasingly smaller boxes. The last one contains the real gift, which might be a tiny box with jewellery inside.

In my family, we always open our gifts on Christmas Eve, not Christmas Day itself. This tradition started when a certain little girl, who shall remain nameless, couldn’t wait until Christmas morning to see what “Santa” had brought her.

But no matter how a gift is wrapped or when it’s given, offering the gift is only half the equation.

It has to be received before the action is complete.

It would be unheard of to leave unopened gifts under the Christmas tree, wouldn’t it? And yet I wonder if some of you haven’t yet “opened” a very special gift that’s been made freely available to you?

The gift of forgiveness for our sins is one that is available to all of us. But it needs to be “opened” to truly be received.

Have you accepted the gift that Christ has made available to you?

All you need to do to receive this life-changing gift is to believe that Jesus died for your sins and rose again.

“For God loved the world so much that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not die but have eternal life.” (John 3:16 GNT)

I invite you to accept this free gift…. you’ll be so glad you did! It will make this Christmas the best one you’ve ever had!

(To learn more about how to accept Christ, click on “About God” in the menu bar above.)

Thank you to everyone who has dropped by The Faith Cafe this past year. It’s been so gratifying to have had visitors from all over the world!

The cafe will be closed for a few days over the Christmas holidays. But rest assured we’ll be back up and running in time for New Year’s!

In the meantime, I wish you and your family a blessed Christmas. Let’s trust that 2021 will be a brighter one for all of us!

May the light of Jesus shine on you today and always!

Merry Christmas from The Faith Cafe!

© 2020 Lori J. Cartmell. All rights reserved.