I thought this Christmas might be a bit bittersweet. My boy is 11 and he learned the truth about Santa this year. Part of me is still in disbelief that he made it this long believing in Santa, but it was still a very hard conversation this year when we told him. He took it hard, but in his typical fashion he bounced back rather quickly.

One of the things I love about this boy (there are too many to count! I love this boy 3000!) is that he is not overly focused on presents. He loves opening them as much as any kid, but he has never been big on demanding specific gifts at Christmas time. As a matter of fact, he seems to enjoy giving the gifts as much as receiving them. He bought my wife and I both presents this year with his own, earned, money. He had such a big heart. I am so thankful for that!

As I was saying, I had a feeling that this time around would be bittersweet. He has written a letter to Santa every year. He always pulls out the milk and treat. Over the past several years he had been leaving out veggies instead of cookies. In his opinion, Santa has enough cookies to be getting on with. He also would leave carrots out for the reindeer.

So, every year I would go in and, like a good Santa, drink the milk, eat the treat, and put the carrots back in the fridge. I gnawed the carrots down one year to make it look like they’d been eaten by the reindeer, but then I watched the Santa Clause 2 movie and Santa made a good point that the Reindeer would eat them whole and wouldn’t leave any behind…so I never did that again. I also wrote back to him every year reassuring him that he had been a good boy throughout the year. With those things complete, we would put out the one gift from Santa (all the other gifts he got were from Mom and Dad).

On Christmas morning there was always excitement that Santa had come. He was always pleased that the milk and treats were gone and that Santa had written back to him on his letter. Then he always turned his attention to our family stuff.

He surprised me tonight. He set out milk and fudge with a note that said “Santa, I love you.” He had told us he was going to set out the treats. He didn’t tell me about the note. There was nothing bitter about this evening.

He doesn’t have to wait on Santa anymore. That’s ok. Now, he knows the truth….and he still believes in the magic of the season. I love this boy!

One of the better books that I have read lately is Atomic Habits by James Clear. I have been fascinated with habits for a long time. It is amazing to me how something small and seemingly inconsequential can make an enormous difference for the positive…or the negative. This book was an extremely good read as it breaks down habit formation in detail. There is one concept that really stuck out: habit stacking.

What is habit stacking? From how I understand it from Atomic Habits it is batching habits together so that the completion of one triggers the initiation of the next. For example:

1. At 5 am every morning I get up.

2. I read my bible first thing. It is the way I want to start my day.

3. Next I read a nonfiction book. I originally set out to read one page. I set the goal low on purpose to give myself some quick wins. I have since raised my goal to 3% of the book. I read off my Kindle app so it is easy to track.

4. I then get up and get ready, including taking my vitamins for the day.

5. I am then off to workout before going to work.

These are all I have stacked up at the moment, but the point is to have one action lead to the next. It makes it much easier to set positive habits this way and stick to them.

I was a little skeptical when I first started the exercise. I had a hard enough time sticking with a single habit, much less tackling several all at once. It took me a long time to get where I read my bible every morning. Now, I haven’t missed in over 500 days. With that anchor habit in place, I have been able to stack other habits around it.

I also find it amazing that I feel so much more productive in my days…just from reading my bible, reading a book, and getting ready in a timely way. And working out consistently. That is a big one. When I execute this cleanly in the morning, I am ready for my day.

Lately I have been brainstorming other things to stack. Even with my success in the morning and with what I have accomplished, it has been hard stacking habits at other times during the day because I don’t have that one anchor habit to lean on. Or, I didn’t until recently.

I have started a habit of blogging every night before I go to bed. If you have read some of my posts and have found typos or mistakes…I apologize. I am doing my best to keep my every day goal. With this habit becoming more solidified, I am trying to identify other things to add to it. I haven’t gotten there yet, but with a new year right around the corner I want to start off strong and finish even stronger.

Do you have habits that you practice daily? Do you practice habit stacking? How is it working?

We listened to a fun book today. As a family we really enjoy books. Every Christmas there are several stories that we pull out and read through. Some deserve the audiobook version. Our old favorite is A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens (read by Jim Dale). Out new favorite, and audiobook of the day, is The Best Christmas Pageant Ever by Barbara Robinson.

The book is about a group of incorrigible kids who end up staring in the local church Christmas pageant, and the hilarity that ensues. By the end of the story, the true meaning of Christmas is still seen, even through the strangest of circumstances.

We only discovered this book a few years back. It, however, was written in 1971. The characters were written so well that they have stood the test of time and the story is just as relevant as ever.

While listening through the story, I was struck by how my perception of some of the biblical events shifted a bit due to the way the story was presented. I grew up going to church. I have heard the Christmas story all my life. Hearing it told through this medium made it stand out to me differently. Let me explain.

The kids in the book didn’t know the Christmas story at all. They were appalled that a pregnant woman wasn’t able to find any room in the inn and was forced to stay (and have a baby!) in a stable. They were angered that King Herod tried to trick the wisemen and that he had so many children and adults killed. The kids in the story, who were actually hooligans, had a perfect sense of what was right and what was wrong. In the story they were so upset with the injustice that they wanted to rewrite the Christmas pageant and string Herod up at the end of it.

I have to admit that, even though this was a comedy story, my own paradigms on the Christmas story were thrown into a different light. Why have I not examined this story more closely and asked these kinds of questions? I think I have examined them some over the years, but have gotten a bit lax the older I have gotten.

Mary and Joseph were a younger couple. Mary was a teenager. They had traveled from their home to Bethlehem for the census. It was not a comfortable trip. It couldn’t have been. Mary was almost full term. They both faced loads of uncertainty. It couldn’t have been easy being away from home. She was, after all, having a baby. Yet, God was in the middle of it all.

While listening today, the Christmas story got a lot more real. The reason that we celebrate did as well. Through that whole scene of stables and cattle, wisemen and shepherds, angels and miracles, it was made very apparent that I need to engage with this story so much more. This is the story of Emmanuel, the God who is with us. It is the story of the God who is still with us.

An old story became new again today. It makes me wonder…how many times do I think I know the story (any story), when it is past time for a fresh perspective? How many times do I miss critical things, because I think I have it figured out? I have a hunch that the same thing may have happened to you. The old story became new again. I am thankful for that.

Who am I? Where am I? I see flashes. I almost remember, but it is hard. My gut tells me I am a warrior. I can’t remember. I only know the prison cell I find myself in. How will I escape? I must find a way. It takes some time, but the answer is plain. The only way out is through.

The problem is I don’t know which direction to take. I can hear the sounds of battle, but I am confused. I am so turned around I don’t know north from south. But, I am determined. I will not quit. I will not surrender. It would be better to die fighting than to rot where I am.

The first thing is to get up. The enemy may not notice if I rise slowly, but what if they do? On my feet, I look to my left and right. There has to be a clue…and there it is, a footprint. Was another here before me? Is the path laid out and I didn’t see it before? My legs are tired, but I take the first step and I feel life returning to them.

A sword and shield lay feet away. I take them. As I grasp the hilt a pulse shoots down my arm. My limbs begin to remember something my brain is having trouble making out. I am a warrior. How did I forget? I have purpose. How long have I hidden it away? The first step was finding the path, and now as I make my way I start to remember who I really am.

One of the first Christmas movies I remember watching is the old classic Its a Wonderful Life. I saw it sometime in the 1980s. I had no frame of reference at that point about the major theme of the movie, but it was a great story and I have loved it ever since. 

What is the major theme of the movie?  It is the little kindnesses we show people that make the biggest difference in life. George Bailey was a very giving man. He didn’t want to be trapped in the small town of Bedford Falls, but took over the family business when his father passed away. He gave his efforts to make sure the people of Bedford Falls had an opportunity for decent housing through the work of his Building and Loan business. He stood in the way of the villainous Mr. Potter from bringing harm and ruin to the good people. He was a good husband and father and a good provider.

Despite all of that, he felt unfulfilled. He didn’t realize the good he had done. He felt that it would have been better had he never been born. It was only after a visit from an angel revealed all he had done that he saw it was truly is a Wonderful Life.  

I love that Christmas time gives us a chance to refocus. We are naturally giving at Christmas, when in truth it should be second nature all year round. We have the chance to give small kindnesses and to do good for people every day. George didn’t think he was doing anything heroic, but he consistently showed kindness. It ended up being his legacy and what saved him at the end of the story. 

It is my goal to live my life aware of this theme. What may be insignificant to me may be huge to someone else.  We all have a chance to make a difference. The small daily choices can do more than we might ever realize.