There are fifty four wars happening in some place on the globe, as I write this. That means for every conflict, there have been at least ten thousand people killed, the breakover point for the definition to be labeled above. Some, such as the Kurds fighting for independence, have been going on since 1947, others, like Afghanistan, starting up again in 2015, with the absence of the US as a police force. We as a nation have been fighting overseas in at least six of these conflicts.

I am returning to the simplicity of my childhood, when Grandpa and Grandma only had enough money to put one strand of lights on a sagebush

There are at present 224 nations, meaning that roughly one quarter the earth is in one or more wars ongoing, including us!

I decided, though I didn't tell my kids, that we'd cut back on the number of decorations and only put up a tree this year. Why? No, I am not protesting the wars, though it would be easy to do so.

I am returning to the simplicity of my childhood, when Grandpa and Grandma Cook only had enough money to put one strand of lights on a tree...and that tree was a sagebush from the Kansas prairie which my dad painted with a spray can of silver color for a dollar. We could not afford a tree real or store bought. We instead purchased a little more food and as I remember, had a glorious, very intimate Christmas around that small piece of fragile nature, while the birth of Jesus took center stage.

We lived in a single wide trailer at the time, from a low paying radio job on the west side of Kansas. I still have the cover of the used locomotive switching engine that my parents procured, since I had at age eleven, such a rabid interest in the grain trains which passed through our tiny farming town there on the flatlands. Along with a couple of diecasts, and my sister's doll and a few handmade dresses from Mom, were all that we had that blustery winter. God was good and provided!

I want the memories, the laughter, the blessings of our Lord, salvation and a home around our lives, to be what my kids remember about Christmas. Truly, our family has more than we need, and the thanks rise from our lips nightly as we pray before bed. Christmas is about Jesus' gift to us as bereft people on this planet, not the splash of color beside the tree!

Let us give thanks for the GIFT which God provided that first humble celebration!