---

Taking Back Christmas for Christ

For many years since becoming a Christian I have questioned the celebration of Christmas. It struck me early on that Christmas, as celebrated by the world, was so commercial and meaningless with Santa and Rudolph and holly and ivy, Jingle bells and wishing wells. In fact Christmas in our family had been traditionally a time of tension and family disputes, probably connected to the financial strain of overspending in December and with it seeing family members we might not usually (want to) spend time with.

Anyway over the years we read various things about Christmas being a pagan holiday and that it should not be observed by true believers, so Christmas kind of drifted into a place where it irritated us and we tried to avoid all the trappings, wrappings, the malls and parties.

We gave gifts, grudgingly, to our children and told everyone else we did not celebrate it and Mark especially would get very irritated by our staff in the business all expecting bonuses and special treatment.

Anyway, in December 2008 God laid on my heart that we need to invite people over for lunch on Christmas day that were far from their home countries, like we were last year when we spent our first Christmas outside of South Africa in the USA. While there we were shown such love and hospitality by friends in California, that we had our best Christmas ever and I began to realise that Christmas is a very powerful time of the year, as it gives us a perfect opportunity to show love, kindness and care to strangers without being treated with suspicion. The fact that the world celebrates it is pretty mind-blowing even though they focus on the wrong thing.

With this on my mind and also wanting to make this a time to remember for our grandson Stephen who lives with us, this year God prompted me to ask 3 Zimbabweans and 16 DRC (Congolese) refugees to have lunch with us, included were 8 children for Stephen to play with.

I decide to drag out the long forgotten Christmas decorations and Mark and Stephen went down to the small forest at the bottom of our garden and cut us a small tree.

Sitting with Stephen I wanted to make decorating the tree about God and His grace and not about presents and noise and flashing lights and it came to me that;

The Tree

Symbolises the tree of Life. This represents Christ in whom God has given us New Life

It also symbolizes God’s awesome creation. Conifers are traditionally used as Christmas trees and as I had been looking for trees in my garden to plant as wind breaks (we live in a windy area), I realized that Conifers are also most commonly used as wind breaks because they can stand the wind because of their long and strong tap root system. This tree represents us being in Christ, we have roots that reach down deep, so deep that we can be pummeled all day and night by the winds of life and remain stable and firm and be a ‘wind break’ for others’

It is the conifers that grow the tallest and live the longest in our windy area, and man, can this wind pump... sometimes up to speeds of 60km/h. So strong that it rips off roofs and recently blew over a large bus in Cape Town!

In Christ we protect others from the storms of life, we have deep roots that find water in the driest times and reach the highest heights we need to live lives of purpose and meaning, we should soften the wind, and give much needed shade and on the hottest days when the temperature reaches over 40C (over 100F) give off a sweet fragrance just like the conifers do.

It is only when we are 'under fire and tested' that we become more like Him.

The Lights and tinsel;

Represents our Messiah, Jesus Christ being the Light of the world and as such our Saviour. The tinsel represents us becoming lights to the world by reflecting His light.

It also represents God’s word which is the light to our path

The Angels

They were the first to bring the good news to the world that our Saviour was born in Bethlehem. They are a reminder that we need to take this good news and share it with the world, to preach the good news to the uttermost corners of the world.

They are also a reminder that our loving Father gives His angels charge over us.

The baubles and the colour red

I explained to Stephen that the baubles represent the world and that God so loved this world that He sent His only son to die in our place and save us. We have red baubles and I explained that red on the tree and at Christmas represents the blood that was shed for us.

The gifts

Represent the ultimate gift, the most perfect gift that God has given us, our salvation through His son and sharing Christ’s inheritance as we become sons and daughters of the most High God.

With this in mind we attended a small Christmas service at a little Baptist church down the road and when the pastor asked who had a testimony to share about Christmas, I suddenly realized that I had a wonderful testimony; I had surrendered my life to Christ many years ago on 25 December 1974. It then came to me that I had been deceived into believing that because Christmas had become commercial I needed to avoid it, but in fact I had the best reason to throw a huge party and celebrate, because I had met my Saviour on this day and been given a New Life forever! Right there in that little church under the trees I decided that I was going to spend 2009 taking back Christmas for Christ because we, all of us believers have a reason to celebrate the true meaning of Christmas and the tree, the giving of God’s ultimate gift to the world, His only son, that we might spend eternity with Him. My only regret is that I have avoided celebrating His gift to me for over 20 years! Man have I some catching up to do!

So what of the 23 people for Christmas lunch?

It was our best Christmas ever; we shared our testimonies of how we came to intimacy with God and spent a day with people that could give us nothing except the joy of knowing that it IS more blessed to give than receive and a reminder of why we will always celebrate Christmas.

Mary-Ann Shearer

---

Delicious Healthy Holiday meals

Rocket & Asparagus salad

Pile a plate with fresh rocket (arugula)

add fresh steamed asparagus

and avocado slices or any grilled vegetables or fresh chopped red bell peppers

Dress with

Red pepper mayonnaise (2 red peppers roasted, blended well with 1 tsp Garlic & Herb salt, juice of 1 lemon , 1 tsp fresh or dried oregano - then slowly add half a cup of extra virgin olive oil, blend until smooth and creamy)

Grilled Vegetable casserole

Grill enough large brown mushrooms with Mary-Ann's Seasoning salt to fill the bottom of a medium oven proof dish 

Grill 10 - 12 baby marrows cut lengthwise (you may need a little extra virgin coconut oil)

Grill 2-3 large eggplant sliced

Place the 3 vegetables in the oven proof dish, sprinkle with grated Parmesan cheese and parsley  or finely ground cashew nuts combined with Mary-Ann's Garlic & Herb salt to taste.

Pour over 1-2 cups tomato puree (optional add organic fresh cream or coconut cream)

Bake in a medium to hot oven (180 degrees C) for 20-30 minutes 

Christmas Icecream

2 cans Coconut cream (preservative free)

half - 1 cup raw honey

half to 1 tsp ground cinnamon

1 banana

half a cup mixed, died fruit like raisins, chopped dates and or peaches or pineapple

(optional - a tot of brandy)

Blend well, then freeze and blend 3 times or place in an ice cream machine.

Serve and enjoy!!

---