If going to a live nativity program isn’t part of your Christmas traditions, change that! It needs to be. One of our favorite December activities is attending a life nativity that is put on by a local family on a farm. I can’t think of anything that we do that touches my heart or makes me feel the Christmas spirit more than watching the story of a poor family that traveled on a donkey to pay taxes.

If you celebrate Christ at Christmas, or not, the story itself will help you celebrate and be thankful for what we are and have. We all know that Christmas has become commercialized and we worry about the perfect presents and how much money we can spend or worry we don’t have enough to give. Instead, for a minute, the nativity story takes the focus off of money and gifts and puts the correct focus on a beautiful family, with loving and brave parents, shepherds who came to worship, wise men who brought imperfect gifts for the perfect gift of all, the miracle baby, Jesus Christ.

Without family what is Christmas? Just like Jesus came to earth to live in a family, so do we. Family brings us joy all year but at Christmas it is our joy. Blood family, neighbor family, church family or work family. All are important. Giving simple imperfect gifts to celebrate this beautiful nativity family as well as my own family and friends is what I want Christmas to be all about. This gift of family is gift enough for me. So don’t forget to add in a live nativity for your families Christmas’s celebrations.