Can you believe that Christmas decorations are already out in the stores??! Every year the fall flies by faster and faster and suddenly Christmas is upon us.

As I mentioned last year, I have wrestled for several years with having a proper balance with Christmas. Our whole year seems to center around Christmas, when Biblically speaking, it should center around Easter!

I love Christmas. I love decorating. I love the music and the smells and the sights that are unique to this season.

I also feel at odds with Christmas. The extreme materialism of it all. The facade of religiosity all around us – hearing Mariah Carey sing “O Holy Night” while shopping with a throng of rude and greedy bargain hunters never sits with me quite right! Even as well-meaning believers in Jesus, I think we can easily lose focus and begin worshiping tradition rather than the Savior this season is named after.

So, as the season approaches, I’m trying to be prepared now to have a correct focus. To think more and more each year about how to use this season to truly honor Jesus Christ and teach my children to revere His name.

Here are some ideas that have been rolling about in my head – I’d love to hear more of yours!

• I have always tried very hard to do my Christmas shopping throughout the year. For the past 5 years or so, it has been my goal to be done with my shopping by Thanksgiving. Not only does this allow me to be frugal and grab things when I see them on an excellent sale or available with an unbeatable rebate, but it also keeps the frantic pace of Christmas in check. [If you have kids on your list, be sure to enter the huge Christmas giveaway of my favorite Christian kids' books!]

• Another important item that I have been discussing with my mom and husband is limiting the number of gifts we give and receive. I love this idea of having only three gifts per child – one for gold, one for frankincense, and one for myrrh. Not only does this limit the excess that detracts from the purpose of our celebration, but it also provides memorable teaching time with our children as we talk about the meaning of the magi’s gifts. If you’re interested in implementing a tradition like this, you might also find this post useful.

• Another idea I picked up last year that I would like to implement is focusing on the names of Jesus throughout the advent season. I can’t find where I saw this, but a blogger suggested putting a basket beneath your Christmas tree with 25 plain ornaments in it. Decorate each ornament (with puff paint or a decorative tag, etc.) with a different name of Jesus – Emmanuel, the Lion of Judah, the Lamb of God, the Good Shepherd, etc. Then each day during December, have your children pick out an ornament to hang on the tree. Look at what name of Jesus is on the ornament, read the Scripture passage where it is found, and discuss with them what that name means.

We’re planning to do a modified version of this idea – we’re not putting up a large indoor tree this year {gasp!}. Partially because of space, partially because LB would love to destroy it, partially because we’re trying to simplify, no big tree. So, we bought a bunch of beautiful red ball ornaments and some crafty supplies, and Nate and I will be working together to make those ornaments gorgeous little reminders of the names of God. I’ll post pictures when we are brave enough to do it. ;) Then, we’re going to add one ball per day to a beautiful glass punch bowl that a friend of mine gave me – it will be our dining room table centerpiece.

Here’s my favorite part of the plan – it will be all beautiful and shiny and royal looking, and then the night before our Christmas celebration I’m going to take it away and put our simple nativity set in its place. For Jesus robed Himself in humanity – and although His glory was veiled, He was God in flesh. Emmanuel – “God with us.”

• Simplify, simplify. This one is tricky, but I feel very burdened about it. No matter how often we say, “Christmas is all about Jesus,” what we often display through our celebrations is that Christmas is about food, decorations, and gifts – with maybe a birthday cake for Jesus thrown in there somewhere. Christmas is all about excess – and isn’t that why most of us love it?

If the heart and soul of Christianity is Good Friday and resurrection morning, why does planning for Christmas consume so much time and energy, while Easter slips by with relatively very little notice?

Would my 3 year old recognize that the resurrection of Jesus changes everything, or would she see by the way that we celebrate that Christmas is the “most wonderful time of the year?”

Keep our hearts set on you, Lord. It’s only September, but prepare our hearts for the season ahead, that we may worship You for who You really are.