Preparation This Week
Place something meaningful at the very top of the tree — ideally a cross. A star or an angel may also be used, but a cross makes the theology explicit. Surround the tree with your gifts. On Christmas morning, gather your family for worship before opening any presents — read Scripture, sing a Christmas hymn, and pray together. Make Jesus the center before you make Him the occasion.
The Greatest Gift
I have often spent time at the end of each year looking back at what I had accomplished during the previous year. Invariably, I would find that the things I had done were very different from those I had planned to do. The goals shift. The priorities rearrange themselves without warning. What seemed urgent in January looks small by December.
As the number of my remaining years on earth gets smaller, I am amazed at how little my previous goals and motivations now matter. The things I worried about most have resolved themselves — or turned out not to matter as much as I feared. And the things I neglected — time with my children, the slow building of faith and character — cannot be recovered.
My story is not unique. Those of us who live in this world are destined to leave it with our worldly goals unfulfilled. We were made for something that this world cannot satisfy.
"Are your eyes firmly set on the only prize worth winning? Are your hopes and happiness resting on Jesus Christ?"M.J. Gallagher — Advent Christmas Tree Devotional
Christmas Is an Invitation
This Christmas is an invitation for you and your family to worship the Author of Life himself. He has given you the gift of His Son — not as a religious duty or a cultural formality, but as the resolution of everything the tree has been telling you for four weeks.
The bare tree in the first week announced the story of sin and sacrifice. The lights in the second week declared that the Light of the world had come into darkness. The ornaments in the third week rehearsed God's faithfulness across every generation. And now, in the fourth week, the tree is complete — crowned with a cross, encircled by gifts, standing as the fullest answer to the question your family has been sitting with all Advent.
Why does a tree stand in a Christian home? Because God has been telling His story through trees since the beginning, and the greatest chapter of that story is the one we celebrate today.
The gifts beneath the tree are good. But do not let the wrapping paper bury the cross. Before the packages are opened, open the Word. Before the morning becomes about what was given, worship the One who gave everything.
Scripture Readings for Week Four & Christmas Morning
- Luke 1:26–56 The annunciation to Mary and her song of praise — God is faithful to His promises
- Luke 2:1–40 The birth of Jesus — the gift arrives in poverty and obscurity, announced to shepherds
- Matthew 2 The Magi follow the star, bring gifts, and worship the newborn King
- 1 John 5:1–12 The meaning of Jesus' birth: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son
- John 1:1–18 Who is Jesus? The eternal Word, made flesh, dwelling among us
- Colossians 1:9–23 Jesus is the image of the invisible God, the Creator of all things, the firstborn from the dead
- Ephesians 4:1–16 Because He has given us every gift, how then shall we live? Walk worthy of the calling
For Christmas Morning
Before opening gifts, gather your family. Read Luke 2:1–20 aloud — let the youngest child who can read take a part. Then sing one verse of a Christmas hymn together: O Come, All Ye Faithful or Hark! The Herald Angels Sing. Close with a prayer of thanksgiving. Then let the morning begin.
You will find, year after year, that this five-minute act of worship at the start of Christmas morning becomes one of the most treasured memories your family carries. It declares, once again, what everything has been pointing to all Advent long.
Questions for Family Discussion
- Looking back over the four weeks — what part of the story moved you most? What are you taking away?
- What does "all things were created by him and for him" mean for the way you spend your life?
- Where is your hope resting this Christmas? Is it in Jesus?