It's the end of a "Not Great" Year, and Nathan and Molly reflect on the past year of podcasts, while looking forward to what's to come in 2024. If you've got a question, SUBMIT IT HERE: https://forms.gle/RbePzE93HbHtCvuZA

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One central part of a "Not Great Christmas" is not only telling the Christmas story from the Bible, but learning how to live it out in our lives. On this week's episode, Molly and Nathan discuss how to do this with our families. If you've got a question, SUBMIT IT HERE: https://forms.gle/RbePzE93HbHtCvuZA

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Is it inevitable for the holidays to be full of busyness and crazyness? Is it possible to not have a hectic schedule? More than possible, it might be necessary for you to have a Not Great Christmas, and that's what Molly and Nathan talk about on this week's episode. If you've got a question, SUBMIT IT HERE: https://forms.gle/RbePzE93HbHtCvuZA

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It’s the most wonderful time of the year… but only in hindsight. When you’re in the midst of trying to pull off the holiday season, it feels hectic and stressful, and there are quite a few tears. Every event went according to plan - it was fun, and memorable, and meaningful - and somehow you remembered to get pictures of everything. Yet somehow, all of us go into the holidays with these high expectations, and nearly every year the pursuit of these expectations lead us to stress and busyness and conflict. And no matter how much planning you put into it, nothing really goes according to plan. It’s always a little messy.

Or maybe this holiday season isn’t going to be perfect, because you’re going through a difficult season. Your first Christmas after losing a loved one, or your first Christmas divorced, or your first Christmas without your kids coming home. Maybe this whole year has been difficult, and you’re just ready to get through this season to start a new year. Regardless of what might keep your holiday from being Hallmark shiny or Publix, neat and tidy, it’s very possible that your experience of this holiday season will be “messy”. But that doesn’t have to be a bad thing. Because as we’re going to see as we look at the Christmas story in the Bible, the first Christmas was incredibly messy. And that’s our hope - Jesus, the Son of God, meeting us in the mess of our lives.

Often the most meaningful times of our lives have been the messy, difficult ones. And even if your mess is so painful, you don’t want to put a positive spin on it, you don’t know what could happen if you would allow God to meet you in the midst of your Messy Christmas.

Because as long as we’re pretending and trying to dress up our “mess”, we won’t see all God is trying to do in our lives. But when we stop trying to tidy up our lives, and instead choose to embrace the mess of our reality, we actually meet the God who is with us in the midst of the mess.

It's a common refrain around the holidays to complain that "Christmas has gotten too commercialized", yet still every year it feels like you have to spend more to get the same excitement from your gifts at Christmas. On this week's episode, we talk about how to have a Not Great Christmas in regards to our finances. If you've got a question, SUBMIT IT HERE: https://forms.gle/RbePzE93HbHtCvuZA

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The Family Movie Night guys take over the podcast to give you some recommendations of movies that will help you have a simple and easy holiday memory with your children. If you've got a question, SUBMIT IT HERE: https://forms.gle/RbePzE93HbHtCvuZA