Christmas Traditions

Christmas in Florida was a little bit different, because we had grapefruit and oranges. When we were kids, our uncle used to come over on a horse and throw grapefruit on our roof—we had an old farmhouse tin roof—and he’d scare us and tell us it was Santa Claus. It doesn’t sound that frightening now, but it was when we were inside the house and you’d hear it—especially when they were setting off fi recrackers off at the same time. That was just a normal Christmas for us.

Every family celebrates the holidays in their own way. Some of our Jesus Calling Podcast guests share their family’s (sometimes quirky) traditions and cherished memories that make the season special.

What I love about our family Christmas time is we play Dirty Santa. I will get the silliest gifts for everybody: I’m talking about hammers, For Sale signs. I got my little nephew a toilet seat top—I’m that uncle. I love that we all get together and play cards. We have a big dinner, and my mom always makes turkey hash the next morning. It’s just an amazing feeling to celebrate what God has done in our lives and to give love.

My mom was expecting, and she went into labor on Christmas Eve. Everything was fi ne until it wasn’t—things just changed really quickly. So the doctor came to my dad, and he said, “I’m sorry but there’s nothing I can do. There’s a problem, and I cannot save your wife or your child.” My dad went out front, and he started praying. All of the sudden he hears, “Arby.” My dad was a pharmacist in the Navy, and it turned out this was a doctor he had served under during World War II—and he was now the doctor in charge of that hospital. He said, “Well, let me see what I can do.” So on Christmas morning, my mom survived. And my sister Barbara was born.

When I was a kid, my three siblings and I would wake up at fi ve in the morning, go to our parents’ room, jump on the bed, and be like, “Yay, let’s go open our presents!” And my dad would say, “Okay, kids, before we go open our presents, we’re going to go have a moment we go open our presents, we’re going to go have a moment of devotions and time with God.” Now, as a 7-year-old, that feels like, “Okay, kids, before we open our presents, we’re going to go to jail!” But it ultimately turned into one of my greatest memories ever, that time when we would sit down and listen to my dad remind us the real reason of Christmas before we did the other traditions of Christmas.

Then she’d bring a cake in, and we’d sing ”Happy Birthday,

Having kids is what makes

Christmas a different story because you get to see the delight in their eyes that you had as a kid. My motherin-law would tell the story of Joseph and Mary coming to Bethlehem, and having baby Jesus in the stable and putting Him in the manger. Then she’d bring a cake in, and we’d sing ”Happy Birthday,

Jesus” because it was His birthday. She’d tell the kids, ”This is why we’re here. The gifts, that’s the symbol of Jesus’s birthday.”

Then we’d open the gifts and go on with our day. But those kind of holiday traditions are really cool to remind the kids—to remind everybody—the reason for the season.

A wife, a mother of four, and an artist, Anne Neilson paints with passion and purpose. After she began painting with oils in 2003, she quickly became renowned for her Angels Series, an inspiring refl ection of her faith. After painting thousands of angels over the years, Anne refl ects on her heavenly subjects and how impactful they’ve been to her—and countless others.

Over the course of painting for twenty years, I’ve often been asked why I paint angels. I paint angels because I want to create something that refl ects my faith. I believe in angels, and I believe that God places not only guardian angels but also a host of angels around us. Early on in my painting career, a young woman strolled into my studio. Kate, we’ll call her, appeared to be in her thirties or forties, and had just moved to Charlotte, North Carolina, in search of a new home. She had a story to share, and was eager to tell it. Kate shared about a time when she was being prepped for surgery. One of the nurses looked at her and said, “Wow, there are a lot of angels in this room!” Kate then slipped under anesthesia. Later, Kate mentioned the comment to her mother, who went into detail about when Kate was born. As they were leaving the hospital, she

made a stop at the little chapel and prayed that God would surround her daughter with His angels. Tears streamed down Kate’s face as she heard the story of her own birth. God used a simple but powerful prayer from her mother over her as a newborn—that God would surround her with angels. Years later, a comment from a nurse in an operating room would continue to convey His powerful message: I see. Sometimes we forget that we serve a God who sees everything about us. He sees our pains, our joys, our failures, and our successes. He sees, and He will go before us today and always. We humans are not angels. But God created us, just as He created the angels, with a mission. We have been placed on this earth to be the hands and feet of Christ. We are called to be “angels” to our world. Dig deep into your spirit to see how God is guiding you to be an angel in someone’s life. This might just mean wrapping your arms around someone who grieves. Or bringing comfort and peace to a world so torn and divided. Or simply reaching out more in love and kindness.

You can fi nd Anne’s latest book, Entertaining Angels, at your favorite book retailer today.