Most of us have a memory of a favorite Christmas gift and many of those memories reach back to childhood.  I received my most memorable as well as exciting Christmas gift at the age of five.  It lay in the bottom of a huge box beneath wads of tissue paper. My parents and I lived on my Dad’s meager pastor’s salary so this huge package held enormous potential for my wants, wishes, and desires. After much paper tossing I reached the box bottom and there they were: 3 tickets for the Barnum and Bailey circus on July l8th.

I jumped up and down, hugged my parents, kissed my dog,and had a spirited celebration throughout the house!  Why the jubilation?  My friend Johnie Stevens had gone to a circus; he bragged, described and probably embellished the details until I knew I could no longer remain on the earth unless I too went to a circus! The fact that we had to wait until July l8 for the circus to come to our area was not an issue for me.  I could wait. In the mean time I would brag to Johnie that I too was going to a circus and it was going to be newer than his. (I showed early signs of a need for spiritual refinement.)

When the eagerly awaited day for the circus arrived, I witnessed events which left me mute and dumbfounded. How could that girl in a bathing suit stand on a tiny ledge at the top of the tent, swing out on a rope, sail through the air and then connect hands with a guy also on the end of a long rope coming at her in the opposite direction?  It looked to me as if each had invisible wings allowing them to tumble effortlessly through space in ways that filled me with reckless envy.  I kept thinking “how’d they do that?”

The rope people were my favorites until a very small car came chugging into center ring. A seemingly endless number of clowns catapulted out of the too small car and started chasing each other with water guns.  Everyone was soaked including many in the first two rows of the audience.

I regretted sitting out of gun range. Then, they all quickly crammed back into the too tiny car and chugged off.  I spent weeks wondering “how’d they do that car thing?”

As if all those wonders were not enough to provide endless bragging rites and overwhelming excitement, the tigers and lions were wheeled toward the center ring in cages.  One by one they were brought into submission by a well-dressed whip-snapping guy and made to perform tricks beyond my comprehension.  My eyes were glued on the whip-snapping guy who didn’t appear to have ever been eaten before.  For weeks I wondered “how’d he do that?”

If you relish those memories and still enjoy the “how’d he do that?” question, there is a gift for you and your entire family just waiting for you to unwrap.  It’s called l2 Gifts of Christmas.  Perhaps of greatest interest to your kids will be our Illusionist, Harris III.  He does tricks that cock the head and raises the “how’d” question.  What’s fun is he invites the kids to come up on stage with him actually showing them how “he does it”.

12 Gifts of Christmas is a night of celebration for all ages and a time perhaps to enter into the joy and wonder of Christmas in a new and memorable way. I look forward to seeing you there and celebrating right along with your family!

by Marilyn Meberg

When God sent his Son, Jesus, he gave us the greatest gift the world has ever known. But we didn’t just get Him, for when God sent his Son, he sent with Him every good and perfect gift we’d ever need. When we received Jesus, we received many wonderful, life-changing gifts:

Love, Joy, Grace, Mercy, Peace, Goodness,  Kindness, Wonder, Hope, Laughter, Freedom, Life

In our humanity, what comes naturally is fear and worry and it’s easy to let our circumstances and the challenges in life overwhelm us. But what comes supernaturally is grace, love, hope and all the good and perfect gifts He provides. 

In life it’s easy to think, ‘You get what you deserve. You have what you earn. It’s all up to you.’ But when you step into the grace of God, it’s all about Him and His provision for us. The fact is, it seems too good to be true. But it is true.

Few know and really understand these gifts and what they mean, and almost no one remembers when it’s needed most. We’re never too old or young, rich or poor, happy or unhappy to need a fresh reminder of the gifts of God. It’s not what we earn or deserve, but what He’s given, out of His goodness and generosity.

by Harris III

God, investigate my life; get all the facts firsthand.

I’m an open book to you; even from a distance, you know what I’m thinking.

You know when I leave and when I get back; I’m never out of your sight.

You know everything I’m going to say before I start the first sentence.

I look behind me and you’re there, then up ahead and you’re there, too— your reassuring presence, coming and going.

This is too much, too wonderful— I can’t take it all in!

Psalm 139:1-6 from Eugene Peterson’s “The Message”

Excerpted from Frederick Buechner’s “Whistling in the Dark”

It’s so hard to please some folks.

When my children were young I thought they’d never grow up and now I look back “at the good ol’ days” with longing (or is that whining). Now my grandchildren are sprouting up like twiggy oaks reaching for rooftops and passing clouds.

“C’mon, Nana we’re making a fire and roasting marshmallows,” my grandson Noah recently announced as he scampered out the back door. I thought, ‘Oh, golly, I’m busy.” But then I remembered legacy is made out of that kind of gooey ingredients that drip down ones chin under endless acres of stars and one tipsy moon cradled in velvet.

I think the skill I need is to be grateful wherever I’m at because seasons are for reasons.  Ecclesiastes tells us that, but its so easy to forget in the midst of life’s laundry and loopholes.

So I decided to find 12 reasons (gifts if you will) to be grateful right now. Not yesterday or tomorrow but NOW. Cause Now has a way of becoming yesterday.

1. I’m in it. Not everyone lives this long so its an unearned privilege to boot scoot my way through today, so I’m going to rejoice.
2. Its new….which means so are its mercies. It’s a clean slate with no mistakes…yet.
3. Its potentially life-changing…depending on the level of my involvement.
4. It’s a once in a lifetime opportunity. There will never be these people, in this alignment, in this manner…again. Period.
5. It’s a gift full of wonder and beauty. Look, then look again, into the face of a child, a flower, a bumble bee. (Careful on that last one they’re shy and a tad defensive.)
6. It’s crammed full of life. Birds and bull dogs, bunions and bouquets, babies and butterflies, blathering and bushel baskets of blessings.
7. It’s a 24 hour Get out of Jail free card. An opportunity to confess and set the record straight once and for all.
8. It’s not bruised by yesterday nor is it scarred by tomorrow its open to change and redemption.
9. Its affordable. I don’t have to pay a fine or an admission charge to enter it.
10. It’s unpredictable…unlike some people’s behavior.
11. It’s a memory in the making.
12. I’m in it. Yes, I know I said that already but I had to remind myself AGAIN!

My forgetter works better than my rememberer. How about yours?

- by Patsy Clairmont

12 Gifts of Christmas is an evening event for all that celebrates the meaning, magic, and music of the season with the highest quality of entertainers for the most affordable price.  As our team has been planning this incredible experience, the excitement has been difficult to contain.  Every person involved cannot wait to share this special time with you, your friends, and family.

To celebrate the beginning of 12 Gifts of Christmas, we’d like to give one of you two free registrations to any one of the events this holiday season.  To register to win, please leave a comment below, on our Facebook page, or on Twitter.

Our hope is that this entire year will be spent celebrating the greatest gift of all, Jesus.

In November and December, we will be visiting 12 cities with an amazing line-up.

You’ll hear the stories and songs of Christmas in a way you might never have heard them. Grammy award winners Steven Curtis Chapman and Laura Story are joined by the best storytellers around — Patsy Clairmont, Luci Swindoll, Marilyn Meberg and Mary Beth Chapman along with comedienne Anita Renfroe — to present an event that brings the wonder of Christmas to life. The night wouldn’t be complete without something special for the kids, as they’ll witness the magic of Christmas with illusionist Harris III.

Christmas is a time of the year that’s uniquely enjoyable to everyone. It’s a time to celebrate all that we’ve been given, the joy of the season and the meaning of it all. That’s what 12 Gifts of Christmas is all about, and you won’t want to miss it!