Whose Birthday Is It?

When I was a kid we always had a birthday cake on Christmas.  And not because my birthday is in December, but to remember that it is Jesus' birthday.  I love that tradition and we're doing it with our kids and my mom is making the cake since we have Christmas at her house (right, mom? :)

But we usually do gifts at Christmas too, so what do you give Jesus?  Well, you can give him your heart, your time, your obedience, but those things are sometimes hard to convey to little kids.

This year we're going to let the boys pick out a gift from Compassion to send to a family in need.  Lots of charities do this now and I really like the idea.  Especially at Christmas it's a tangible way to give something in Jesus' name.


There are many other ways you can give, Angel Trees, food gift baskets through local charities, etc.  But we really like the work that Compassion does and the long term affects these gifts have.  Giving a live animal like a goat can provide nutrition as well as income for a family for a long time.

I hope to make this our new Christmas tradition!

Do you have any Christmas traditions like this?  What kind of gifts do you give on Jesus' birthday?