Scripture and ...

I am a bit of a Christmas Music connoisseur. I have multiple Christmas playlists on my smartphone, but my general Christmas playlist has over 400 songs and is nearly 24 hours long. I grew up listening to Bing Crosby and Perry Como croon Christmas carols on vinyl and loving Michael W. Smith and Amy Grant's newer Christmas songs. I thought I would share with you what I thought was the best modern version of each Christmas carol.  Which are your favorites? Or do you think another artist has topped any of these versions? The First Noel - TobyMac with Owl City O Come, O Come Emmanuel - Matt Maher O Holy Night - Point of Grace O Little Town of Bethlehem - Natalie Grant What Child is This? - Jason Bare Angels We Have Heard on High - Sanctus Real  or Chris Tomlin Silent Night - Big Daddy Weave It Came Upon a Midnight Clear - Kutless Joy to the World - Avalon Hark! The Herald Angels Sing - Building 429 God Rest You Merry Gentleman - MercyMe  or Pentatonix We Three Kings - Tenth Av...

  You may have already read that one of my family's favorite Christmas traditions is driving around to look at Christmas lights. A local church has a light display coordinated with music on your radio that we love to visit. On the way to and from the church (with a few extra turns), we drive around to complete a  Christmas Decorations Scavenger Hunt . I have altered my version a few times and printed some from other websites, but this year I created a new bingo version.  Before you go out for your drive, print out a  Christmas Decoration Bingo Card  for each person participating. Then get comfy for your ride. Feel free to wear your Christmas pajamas and take blankets. Have a clipboard (or hardcover book) and pencil for each person to mark off the decorations you see. Throw in a snack like hot cocoa (or stop for a peppermint mocha) and some Christmas cookies. Most importantly, enjoy the time together as a family during the busy Christmas season!

The Christmas season is everyone's favorite part of the year. There are so many great things to do during this season. My family loves to drive around a look at Christmas lights. We even make it into a scavenger hunt . And of course, there are all the family get-togethers, making cookies, making or buying gifts. With all of the activity, it's easy to get distracted from the real reason for the season: a celebration of Jesus who was born to die for our sins.  To keep you focused on Jesus this season, here is an advent calendar that focuses on some of the many names for Jesus. Each day meditate on a different name and consider what it is telling us about Jesus and His relationship with us. Print it out and set it somewhere you will read it every day to help you focus on the Christ in Christmas. 

  I've already discussed how having Bible verses on our smartphone's lock screens can help you meditate on God's Word throughout the day . It can even help you memorize Bible verses. In addition, during the Advent season, having Bible verses on our lock screens can remind us that remembering that Jesus was born to be our Savior is the whole purpose of Christmas.  So when you pull out your phone to make sure you aren't late for the next Christmas activity, you can be reminded that there's more to Christmas than all the fun and busyness. Or when you are checking social media, but feel overwhelmed trying to keep up with the Joneses. Or when you get a phone call from another relative that you can't be with this holiday, because well... it's 2020. When the advent season is over, keep God's Word on your smartphone with more of my Bible verse lock screens . If you are looking for any specific Bible verses that you would like to have on your lock screen, comment...

Like many others, the Christmas season is my favorite time of the year. However, it's so easy to get distracted from remembering the birth of the Savior with all of the fun. That is one of the reasons people celebrate Advent. It reminds them each week of the reason for the season. There are many different ways people celebrate advent and different groups use different themes. There is no one right way to celebrate Advent. For this calendar, I kept it pretty simple, using hope, peace, joy, and love as my weekly themes.  Each day, you can read a Bible verse related to the theme and meditate on what it means for you personally.  You can print out your advent Bible verse calendar below or click here .

Our family has many Christmas traditions: going to a Christmas Eve service, reading the Christmas story in the Bible on Christmas morning before opening our presents, and making Christmas cookies. However, my children have a favorite tradition. They love seeing Christmas lights. A nearby church has a light show where you turn on your radio and watch the lights coordinated to the music. It's very well done and we have a great time, especially since they have hot chocolate and cookies as well. We added our own Christmas decoration scavenger hunt to look for things on the way to and from the light show and now we have our favorite Christmas tradition. We usually just google one and print it off, but we made up our own this year and thought we'd share it with you. Click here or below to print out the scavenger hunt. Then enjoy!

My Grandmother is one of ten kids and, of course, her family always wants to get everyone together for Christmas. For many years we got together on Christmas day. We met in family homes, but when they were outgrown we rented granges and church buildings. With kids, grandkids, and now even great-grandkids, we would sometimes have as many as 60 people together on Christmas day. Last year, we had our first Christmas party that was not on Christmas day. As each generation got married, more families were involved and it made it difficult for people to be available on Christmas day.  Since it was our first year where we got together the Saturday after Christmas, I decided to make some Christmas Minute-to-Win-it games for the younger people to play. So I googled some games, adapted others, and created some of my own for the party. Since I am a planner and I was worried that things wouldn't go smoothly, I had my family practice one evening. They all agreed that we should do M...

Here are all of the links to my Christmas blog posts in one place.  All of the Christmas carols, the DIYs, the Bible studies, the online quiz.  All connected here so that you can find them easily. Christmas Bible Studies and Quizzes A calendar with Bible verses with different names of Jesus  for four weeks of advent A calendar with Bible verses for the four weeks of Advent  themed on hope, peace, joy and love Bible verses that emphasize why Jesus was born  for sharing on social media, printing, or crafting A free printable Bible study to look into why Jesus was born An online or printable quiz to separating biblical fact from traditional presumptions about Jesus' birth Christmas Bible Verse Lockscreens Bible verses images to put on your smartphone's lockscreen Christmas Songs Are you looking for the Bible verses behind these Christmas songs? Just click on the links to read the lyrics and the Bible verse that correspond with them...

Isaac Watts is a hymn writer, well-known as the author of 750 hymns like “ When I Survey The Wondrous Cross ,”  “Alas And Did My Savior Bleed,” and “O God Our Help In Ages Past."  His  “Joy To The World” was first published in 1719. Later, Lowell Mason took lines of music from Handel's Messiah  to compose the tune, Antioch, that is now so familiar. Did you recognize the first notes of “ Lift Up Your Heads ” or possibly “ Glory to God ” as the beginning notes? “And heaven and nature sing” reflects the orchestra in the opening notes of “ Comfort Ye .” The interesting thing about “Joy To The World” is that the song is really more about the Second Advent (Jesus' return to reign) than the First Advent (Jesus birth so He could die for our sins). The biblical prophecies in verses 3 and 4 are not fulfilled yet, but they will be when Jesus Christ returns to set all things right. Even the first verse doesn't accurately reflect the birth of Jesus, as the earth didn't “re...

What can be more traditional at Christmas than a Christmas carol, especially one whose most prevalent tune dates back at least to 1580? "What Child Is This" brings out the truth that Jesus is both Savior and King of Kings and is worthy of praise. It contrasts the Baby who was worshipped while yet a child with the rejected Messiah who was crucified for our sins. My favorite verse is the last which invites everyone from pauper to royalty to worship Jesus and invite Him to be the Lord of their life. Like most Christmas carols, "What Child Is This" does sometimes portray more of a Christmas card scene with Jesus sleeping on Mary's lap, animals mentioned as being beside the manger (the location of the manger is never actually given, nor a stable mentioned), and the magi seem to visit Jesus at the time of His birth rather than probably two years later. In spite of these presumptions, this carol beautifully brings out the purpose of Jesus' birth- to save ...

Not many songs are more familiar for Christmas than Hark the Herald Angels Sing. My son calls it the Charlie Brown Christmas carol because the kids sing it at the end of the iconic Christmas program. Charles Wesley, the author, wrote over 6,000 hymns, including the familiar “ And Can It Be That I Should Gain ”, “Christ The Lord Is Risen Today”, “ Come Thou Long Expected Jesus ”, and “O For A Thousand Tongues To Sing.” In the first verse of “Hark The Herald Angels Sing,” he calls all nations to join in with the angels in giving “glory to the newborn King.” The second verse looks into the doctrine of the incarnation and the final verse looks at the purpose behind Jesus' birth*. While I love this song, I do want to point out that in Luke 2 it does say that the angels spoke "Glory to God in the highest," and did not sing it. In fact, angels are never mentioned as singing in the Bible (with the possible exception of Job 38:7). Ironically, the original hymn did n...