O Holy Night

Christmas Secrets - 7 Tips to Revitalize the Real Spirit of Christmas this Season!

By Bernadette Dimitrov

Revitalize yourself as you rediscover the real spirit of Christmas. It can magically transform your life!

1. Celebrate -­ Christmas is time to celebrate YOU! Uplift yourself with memories of the joys you discovered and successes you achieved over the year. Spend moments in gratitude for these wonderful memories. This is how you celebrate you!

2. Wish Creation­ - Make wishes on the eve of Christmas. This is a special time as it is the night when the Star of Bethlehem magically appeared. Look for the first star as night falls before you make your wishes. Then blow a magic energy kiss with each wish for its manifestation in the coming year!

3. Start Afresh -­ Decide today to let go of the past. In every single situation no matter how challenging is an opportunity to make lemonade out of a lemon. Choose to find the gift in the message that the situation or person brings. If you feel stuck look at the quality being presented. This is the learning for you ­ to work on this quality in your own life! Now let the situation go by not giving more focus and energy to it and be grateful for the opportunity to evolve through this learning.

4. Forgiveness -­ This is how we connect deeper with each other. Make it a ritual before the festive meal to spend a moment one by one going around the table asking for forgiveness for something you did or didn’t do during the year. It will connect you all at a heart level! Don’t miss this opportunity to build bridges and set yourself free. Forgiveness truly revives the ‘real’ spirit of Christmas.

5. Discovery ­- Spend time discovering a new element of who you are. A great way to do this is to put your-self in new situations. Go volunteer, join a new club, try a new activity!

6. Support - Who’s your best support at Christmas ­ Santa Claus or you may know him as Saint Nicholas. Think about his qualities ­ kind, generous, loving, forgiving. He is solution orientated and always looking for and finding the best in all he meets. Support yourself by focusing on ways to develop these qualities in you.

7. Gift Giving -­ You are the gift! Learn to give of yourself. This is how we reinforce the presence of love in our lives. Where ever you go you leave your energy, your mark. Leave the spirit of Christmas this holiday with your positive inspiration and uplifting energy.

Re-connect with yourself, family and friends and go create some good old days. Memories that warm the heart and rekindle the ‘loving’ spirit of Christmas!

Visit http://www.HoHoHoChristmas.com & sign up for our FREE Newsletter full of tips, tools & resources for reviving the fun, joy, magic and real meanings of Christmas PLUS receive our bonus f*r*e*e 10 day e-course with audio - Amazing Ways to Enrich Your Christmas Experience from The HoHoHo Expert, Bernadette Dimitrov, author of the world's best Christmas ebooks and audio books. The HoHoHo Factor!’ everything you’ll love to know & share about Christmas & the new fun adventure series ‘Bluey, Santa's New Recruit!’ Your resources for creating fun and cherished memories today!

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Bernadette_Dimitrov
http://EzineArticles.com/?Christmas-Secrets---7-Tips-to-Revitalize-the-Real-Spirit-of-Christmas-this-Season!&id=97184

The Gift - by Aselin Debison

Christmas Spirit: Do You Possess The Spirit Of Christmas?

While for so many people this holiday season is about rampant commercialism, keeping up with the Joneses and rushing to keep up with a hectic schedule, we should all jump off the speed train and take time to not only appreciate the true meaning of Christmas but also to embrace the true spirit of Christmas.

Emotionally this is a difficult time of year for so many. Depression and anger drive up the rates of suicide and domestic violence. Stress builds upon stress to destroy the holiday cheer of many.

The underlying problem for so many people is that they focus all their energy on what they do not have rather than embracing what they do have -- that is what Christmas spirit is all about.

Whether or not you are an ardent Christian, if you live in the Western World then you know that the true meaning of Christmas is to celebrate the birth of Christ. The Christ child is a symbol of love, light, hope and peace that makes this such a joyful season for true believers. However, even among the believers, there are some for which this message is not enough to overcome the depression, anger and stress of the season.

That is why it is so important to embrace the true meaning of Christmas. You need to reach down within yourself to find the spirit of Christmas. In order to embrace the true Christmas spirit you must be willing to give. Give of yourself, your time and your love, and give of your worldly possessions. Do not think of the gifts you give to others as an obligation or duty, but think of it as a symbol of your love for them. While no gift can accurately reflect the love we feel for those who are near and dear to us, we can show them that they matter by spending time and thought to create or select a gift with meaning.

My son likes to make his gifts and spends a long time designing and then creating these items. Granted, we could have bought a sweatshirt with "world's best grandma" printed on by a factory, but I expect that his grandmothers will cherish the shirts he designed himself and then created with fabric paint -- misspellings, oddly-formed pictures and all. If you are struggling with your Christmas spirit then perhaps you should avoid the mall entirely this season and find a different way to give?

Embracing the spirit of Christmas also means giving to those beyond our immediate sphere as well, especially those most in need. Obviously it is easy to throw some money in a Salvation Army collection, and that is certainly worth doing, but if your Christmas spirit needs a boost then perhaps you should try something more hands-on.

Local churches, schools, and charitable organizations can usually give you a list of opportunities to give and help. For example, through my church we have taken up a shoebox collection (creating an assortment of holiday gifts that will fit into a plastic shoebox and then are shipped to need children overseas) and bought coats and clothing for needy children in our community. I helped wrap the coats and clothing as well as contributed to both campaigns and it did wonders for making me appreciate what I possess.

Embrace the spirit of Christmas and find the true meaning of the season to bring more joy and happiness into your life.

Related articles by Zemanta

• 7 Ways to Share the Christmas Spirit

Keeping Christ in Christmas This Year

Image via WikipediaBy Malia Russell

Each year, Christian parents struggle to balance between the consumerism of Christmas, and keeping Christ the central theme of Christmas. Here are some ideas of ways you can keep Christ the main focus this year.

• Go Christmas caroling.

• Lots of churches have Christmas programs that are completely free.

• Make a Jesse Tree. You can print pictures for a Jesse tree off from the internet, have the kids decorate them, and each day, pull out a Jesse tree decoration and put it on your tree. I use the front of my fridge and simply tape each on there, in the shape of a Christmas tree.

• Make a homemade advent calendar. For each day, have a scripture verse, or a Christmas song that your family will enjoy together. You can include small treats as well (tootsie rolls or kiss, or homemade cookie).

• We have a Happy Birthday Jesus Party

• Sponsor an Angel Tree Child

• Limit gifts - one way to do this is as follows: Decide to have three gifts per child (since that is what Jesus received). Or, we do this one: We buy our children three gifts each, plus one gift to share. We use the following poem as a guideline: "Something to read, something to wear, something to play and something to share"

• Sponsor another charity such as Operation Christmas Child

Stop and think through all the things you do at Christmas and see what is truly just a distraction from Christ, and try to eliminate those things as much as possible. I hope your family has a very Merry Christmas!

Malia Russell is the owner and director of http://www.homemaking911.com The number one word homemakers use to describe themselves is overwhelmed. Women have a yearning to create a home, a place of beauty, order, comfort and peace. However the compulsion to do it right often collides with feelings of guilt, inadequacy and frustration.

www.homemaking911.com is meant to encourage you. There you will find resources to help in many aspects of home management and home education, being a godly wife and mother, and becoming the type of woman God is calling you to be.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Malia_Russell http://EzineArticles.com/?Keeping-Christ-in-Christmas-This-Year&id=1715124