Hey everybody! I’d like to introduce you to our newest staff writer, Matthew VanTryon. We’re excited to have him join our team, so be expecting to read more from him! Also, we know you’re all busy (as are we!) so we’ve decided to extend the deadline for our giveaway to January 12. All you have to do is leave a comment on any of our new posts and you’ll be entered! (For example, you could leave Matthew a comment welcoming him!) ~ Halee

by Staff Writer Matthew VanTryon

What you have always wanted! How to make this the best Christmas ever in three easy steps…

Ok so not really. However, hopefully this post will be encouraging and give you some ideas for the upcoming holiday season.

Now that we all weigh an extra 10 pounds from Thanksgiving, we are thrown into the Christmas season. The trees are being put up, the stores are filled, the lights are being hung from the rooftops, and there is an extra buzz in the air (oh, and the Christmas season for me means preparing for finals).

The Christmas season has always been slightly confusing to me. I mean, as Christians the goal should be to celebrate the birth of Jesus, right? Isn’t it hard to not get wrapped up (pun intended) in the things the world things at you? And let’s say that you do everything you feel like you are “supposed to do” this Christmas season. But before long, it comes and goes and you feel an emptiness inside. You feel like you missed something, but you can’t put your finger out what it is.

Think about it. You see this really cool (fill in the blank) that you want for Christmas and you get really psyched up for it. You tell everyone you want it, and you come down on Christmas morning to find it! You are really excited…but even then, isn’t there this feeling of letdown? All this excitement built up to exactly what you wanted, and yet you still aren’t totally satisfied.

The solution? Give more than receive. And by this I don’t simply mean giving the coolest present you can to your boyfriend or girlfriend. I mean giving by having a gracious heart. This means giving time to smile at someone who looks like, despite all the “Christmas cheer,” they are having a bad day. This means giving a hug to someone who needs it. This means giving an ear to someone who simply needs someone to listen to. This means giving of your time in a sacrificial way to make someone’s day.

I think if we were all to take this attitude,then we won’t feel quite so empty inside when December 26th rolls around. And maybe, just maybe, the Christmas season of 2010 can be the best Christmas ever.

Matthew VanTryon is a sophomore at Covenant Christian High School in Indianapolis. He loves to hang out with friends and use his various abilities to glorify God and help others. He enjoys sports, and loves to read and write about them.