I wish you all a very Merry Christmas! I hope you are all happy on this very special day, and that you are at peace.

We have many reasons to be thankful at Christmas. We have a had a fantastic year here at Chez There’s Value! We managed to get a really great bargain on a used car, our son is growing and thriving, and we managed to hit all our financial goals. Things are going well for us in general.

Even if things hadn’t been so rosy this year, I would still have said there are many reasons to be thankful at Christmas. We have our health, we live in a peaceful city, the sun is beautifully shining right now as I type this. I like to be thankful for the simple things, like a meal shared with my husband and son, the dappled light the sun makes through the trees, and seeing the murmurations of swallows or starlings.

We have very many financial reasons to be thankful at Christmas, but inasmuch as I am thankful for each and every one of them, I am not going to dwell on them, because we are blessed and enriched in many more profound ways than mere secular wealth. The true riches are eternal ones, not our dividends, profits, salaries, and spivs.

True riches lie in the unbreakable, unshakable, unconditional love that is available to us through the Lord Jesus, whose birthday we celebrate today. With God, all things are possible. When I am weak, He is my strength. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. So today, my reasons to be thankful at Christmas are all about Him.

Photo credit: Stuart Miles/freedigitalphotos.net