Light displays, Christmas songs, plays and performances, movies, cookies and pies, family potlucks and gift exchanges, a visit to see Santa Claus, a visit from Santa’s elf on the shelf, a Christmas tree or two, letters to Santa, gifts on Christmas Day, shopping…shopping…and more shopping. It’s all driving me nuts this year. Why? Because I don’t see any lasting meaning in any of it! Aside from the worship I am doing at church…which I do every week of the year, Christ isn’t very prominent in my Christmas.

Do me a favor: add up all the hours you have spent on Christmas traditions, then compare them to the hours you have spent seeing Jesus in the season. If your like the average American Christian, it’s a pretty pathetic ratio, maybe even as bad as 100:1. In fact, beyond Christmas carols, I’m afraid that most people’s only Christian Christmas experience may be worshipping on Christmas eve.

I like family gatherings, gift exchanges, movies, potlucks and Christmas music like everyone else…I’m not advocating that we get rid of those things…but we have got to be intentional about putting Christ in Christmas. And if you don’t do it for yourself, please, do it for your kids!

We have some sayings in ministry that really bring out the issue here: “What gets repeated gets remembered,” and, “if you want to emphasize something, restate it.” I’m afraid that for this magical, memorable season of the year our kids are learning from the repetition. They are only learning about Santa, not the Savior, because we are not emphasizing Jesus the way we should. Think about it: if we anxiously anticipate Christmas morning for it’s gifts all December, if your children get up each morning to the chaos of the Elf on the Shelf…for 25 days…what message is going to sink in deeper than all the others?

If we are going to do Christmas right, we need to do three things: we need to plan and do things that put Christ in Christmas, we need to talk about the meaning of traditions that reflect Jesus every time we do them, and we desperately need to kill some bogus traditions that are distracting or reprogramming us and our kids to miss Christ in Christmas.

Here are some ideas for better Christmas traditions to work into your December:

• Serve at a shelter this Christmas, and let your kids see people who REALLY NEED gifts this year. Encourage them to take from their own abundance and give things to those in need.
• Invite people who are not able to celebrate at a larger gathering to join your Christmas celebration. Family only: is anyone really going to be upset that you brought a stranger into the family party? Do it anyway!
• Share Christmas dinner with others after the meal too. Box up a few plates and take them to people stuck working retail on Christmas: gas stations, pizza places, and local businesses can’t afford to stay closed for long. Show them Jesus in a nice meal. You won’t miss the leftovers when you can remember the smiling faces of those who received them!
• Celebrate the arrival of Jesus, not just the arrival of Santa Claus. Read the REAL Christmas story to your kids.
• Read a Christmas devotional each night of December. Spend the season with a daily thought about Christmas.
• Give until it hurts. Remember, Jesus gave up a ridiculous amount of stuff to join us for 30 years. He placed Himself at the absolute mercy of a first-time teenage mother who was both poor and far removed from her family and her culture (they spent Jesus childhood in Egypt, remember?) Reflect His attitude and give your time, money, and heart in ways in which you’ll feel it this season.

Those are just my initial thoughts for this season…what do you think? What ideas do you have for making Christmas meaningful?