The packages have been opened.  The paper trash has been collected.  The food has been eaten.  The children have already broken something they received.  (I remember one Christmas that Becky pulled the string out on her "Chatty Cathy" doll and cut it off.  It only took her ten minutes.  No more chat.)  And everyone is stretched out somewhere wondering why they ate so much.  It must be Christmas.

For weeks we have been looking for that special gift--for that special someone.  We've been baking cookies, making candy and wrapping presents to go under the tree.  And now the day is almost over.  And God willing, we will do it all again next year.

I am sure that in your family of friends and acquaintances that there are some who have real needs.  I am also sure that you helped them in some way.  We must remember the poor--especially at this time of year.  The time of  year when we focus on giving.

"Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.” Luke 6:38  

I told Becky last night that she always does everything to excess.  She does.  Cooking, travel...and that includes giving.  She is always giving someone something.  Instead of one package of Turkish figs--which I adore--she gave me four.  And five or six other presents.

^"In everything I did, I showed you that by this kind of hard work we must help the weak, remembering the words the Lord Jesus himself said: ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’ ”  Acts 20:35

Merry Christmas.  God bless you every one.