Morning By Morning

Over the past year I have gone through Morning by Morning, a daily devotional book excerpted from the writings of Marva Dawn. I was first introduced to her writings by a book of hers which came across my desk, Talking the Walk, which I reviewed last year. I was very taken with this book and searched for other writings of hers. I came across Morning by Morning which takes nine different books of hers and offers excerpts along with Scripture verses and a short prayer.
Each meditation is very thought-provoking and each reading is different for the reading from the day before. The topics are as varied as her writings.
My wife and I celebrated this past Christmas with her family (I love many of the traditions they have), and both of us were stricken on Christmas morning as her little nieces opened their gifts. Christmas was stripped down to stuff and "mine" and disappointment with what was received. With the arrival of our first child in less than two months, our thoughts have often gone to how we can make Christmas about Jesus and giving and family, and much, much less about receiving.
One of the meditations Ms. Dawn has in this book speaks directly to this and is from her book, Sexual Character.
She writes, "What can we do about those holy days and also help them enjoy being different in our celebration of them? ...the crucial point is that we help our children to know what we believe - namely, not only that salvation is an enormously wonderful and totally essential gift but it also the entire reason for the season - and that what we believe influences the way we celebrate..."
She has very many good an diverse thoughts on this subject as well as many more. I would encourage you to seek her out as an author.