My husband and I have relatives spread throughout the U.S., so we have often found ourselves traveling over the holidays. This year, however, we just stuck around home, and have been struck by the fact that we are still discovering our identity as a family, making new traditions and keeping some old ones. Throughout my childhood, one of my fondest memories is that of making Christmas cookies with my grammy, my mom, brothers, aunts and cousins. I wanted to keep this tradition alive in my family, but wasn’t sure how to give it a purpose connected with the true meaning of Christmas, the birth of Jesus.

So, this year, I decided to give the Christmas cookies an evangelistic twist. I invited my neighbor girls over one night, and my Spanish-speaking neighbor and her daughter another day. My date with the girls was hilarious, and it was so fun to teach them how to roll out and cut the dough, and to let them go wild with creating icing masterpieces on their cookies. When they left, I reminded them to allow the sweetness of the cookie to tell them of the sweetness of Jesus, the greatest gift ever given.

My time with my hispanic friend was even more meaningful. We talked of family and cultural traditions, and belief in Jesus Christ (she’s a nominal Catholic). At one point she said, “We are not like you and Mateo. We aren’t always doing good things and thinking and talking about good things to each other. But we are good people; we try to be kind to everybody and have never done anything bad like stealing or killing.” The Lord brought to memory something that Gregg Harris had said in a sermon recently. I reminded my friend that the sign of true faith in Jesus was not so much refraining from doing bad things, but that a life transformed by Christ would be marked by the doing of good things, and that one’s thoughts and the entire course of life would be turned towards living as He lived, which would include not doing bad things. It was such a wonderful opportunity to clarify the Gospel to her, and I am praying that our conversations that day will be brought to her memory as she celebrates Christmas with her family.

I am a mother to two toddlers with another child on the way in the spring, and though I don’t have the opportunities for evangelism that some may have, I do have neighbors who need the sweetness of Jesus Christ in their lives and hearts. May we all be looking for different and innovative ways to share the Gospel this Christmas, whatever our circumstances may be. Merry Christmas!