The Case for December 25th Christmas
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It's a New Year and a new chapter in the book of your life.
Write wisely, live joyfully, and give thanks along the way.
Giving thanks is especially important in a time when entitlement and victimhood are often encouraged, and when depression and discouragement are widespread. Gratitude has a quiet power: it shifts our focus, steadies our hearts, and reminds us that we are not alone. A thankful heart can gently dispel despair and make room for hope.
Throughout the Old Testament, God repeatedly commands His people to remember. Each year they were to reflect on His mighty works—protecting them from the plagues in Egypt, compelling Pharaoh to let them go, parting the Red Sea so they could escape on dry ground, providing manna from heaven and water from a rock in the desert, and granting miraculous victories over their enemies.
These acts of remembrance were not meant to fade with time. God commanded that they be passed down to their children and grandchildren so each generation would grow in gratitude, faith, obedience, and relationship with their loving, mighty God.
God continues to work powerfully in our lives today—yet in the busyness and pressures of daily life, it is easy to overlook how present He has been. One simple and meaningful way to track God’s presence and blessings in your family’s life is through a tradition known as a Praise Jar (sometimes called a Blessings Jar).
Create a Praise Jar
At the beginning of the year, start with an empty jar. Place a pen and a small note pad next to it. As the year unfolds, each family member writes a short note on a slip of paper whenever something good happens—a blessing, an answered prayer, a joyful moment, or anything they want to thank God for and drops the note into the jar. What often surprises people is how full the jar becomes.
At the end of the year—on New Year’s Eve, Christmas, or even Thanksgiving Day—gather together and read the slips aloud.
What often follows is a sense of astonishment. As the notes are read one by one, you begin to see just how abundantly God has been at work. What once felt like an ordinary year reveals itself as a year filled with quiet mercies, unexpected help, steady provision and gifts of joy.
At times we may feel as though we have not been blessed. Yet Jesus reminds us that God’s generosity extends far beyond what we deserve. As He exhorted His listeners to love their enemies, Jesus explained:
“(God) causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.” —Matthew 5:45
A Praise Jar helps us recognize that we do not earn God’s blessings—they are gifts, freely given. Over time, a pattern begins to emerge. We see how God has been intimately involved in our lives—how his grace has sustained us when we felt overwhelmed, carried us through difficulties we feared we could not endure, and used even hard seasons to deepen our character and trust in His care.
I was raised Catholic, but like many teens and young adults, I drifted into agnosticism—believing Jesus was a historical figure, but not someone personally involved in my daily life. Looking back, I believe a simple tradition like a Praise Jar could have kept my childhood faith alive through those questioning years. It would have offered visible, undeniable proof of God’s personal love and active presence in my life and in my family—something I could have returned to when doubts crept in.
God once described King David as “a man after My own heart.” One reason for this was David's continual habit of offering thanksgiving and praise. He poured out his love for God through composing new songs and exhorting God's people to remember the Lord's goodness and respond with thanksgiving.
A Praise Jar invites us to do the same—to pause, remember, and rejoice. As you enter this new year, consider creating an honored space in your home for a Praise Jar so your family can grow in awareness of God's faithful presence in their lives. You may be surprised how this simple practice transforms the way you see your year—and your God.
“I will give thanks to you, LORD, with all my heart;
I will tell of all your wonderful deeds.” —Psalm 9:1
Marjorie Lewis has devoted over 40 years to Catholic ministry, sharing her love for God through leading worship, youth and young adult ministry, prison ministry, retreats, teaching Scripture, ministering inner healing and deliverance. Together with her husband, she has ministered in hundreds of parishes across the United States, Europe, and Mexico, inspired by Pope St. John Paul II’s New Evangelization and a deep desire to help renew Catholic communities. She has been joyfully involved in the Catholic Charismatic Renewal since 1980.
