Remembering the Real Reason for Christmas

I read something this morning that really made me think. It was an anogram for the word Cocoa. The anogram was as follows: C=Christ, O=Ornaments, C=Cheerfully Celebrate the Season, O=Overjoyed vs Overwhelmed, A=Abundance. We will be decorating our home and tree this weekend so I starting thinking about the posting for the letter O. The verse for Ornament was 1 Peter 3:3 ,"Your beauty should not come from outward adornment, such a braided hair and the wearing of gold jewelry and fine clothes. Instead it should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God’s sight." It made me think of how many times we put our decorations for Christmas before the real reason for Christmas. We work so hard and spend so much time on how our home looks to other people's eyes and how we can make everything around us look like the holidays but do we forget to make ourselves look and express the holidays in our actions. Christmas first and foremost should be about our saviour Jesus who came into this world but I think we tend to forget this when we get so consumed with decorating, gift buying and food. God tells us not to worry about our outward appearance because it is what is inside of us that really matters. Our innerself should be professing Christ as our saviour and being over joyed with his birth, not thinking of how beautiful our home may or may not look. There is nothing wrong with doing these things, because I believe that decorating for the holiday can exclaim how grateful we are for Jesus coming into this world but we have to do it with that attitude and make sure it is all from within.