When growing up in the US, we always looked forward to Thanksgiving on the fourth Thursday of November.

After this, Christmas decorations started to come out in the stores and at home.

I like that it’s not a commercial but rather a time for families to gather together and think about what is good in their lives, and for Christians to spend time thanking God.

Sometimes we spend so much time thinking about what else we need or need to do that we forget to just be thankful for the things we have, and our family and friends.

I have a friend who spends time with her husband doing this daily and then they go on to plan what they will do in the next day – what a good habit to model!

Now in Australia and many countries, Christmas has become very commercial and it comes early so that we have ‘plenty of time to shop’.

I do love the decorations and the festivities of Christmas, but do we really need to spend so much money letting our family and friends know that we love them?

I think not. Most of us would be happy with a flower from the garden, an IOU for a car wash or home cooked treat, or just a visit.

Christmas should be a time to get together with family and/or friends.

There are lots of things to do: decorating, baking, making presents, singing songs, looking at the light displays, going on picnics, and much more.

There are a number of activities in town over the six weeks leading up to Christmas.

The Uniting Church has two activities, both of which need bookings.

The Gingerbread House making afternoon has been really popular as a family activity.

The houses stay together quite well and the children have lots of fun building/decorating them (this year December 1) and then smashing them on Christmas day.

The second activity is Santa Paws where you have your dog’s photo taken with Santa for $15 on November 24.

This activity supports Uniting World Christmas appeal and you will get a printed photo and digital file which can be used to create your Christmas greeting to others.

The Yass Community Christmas Carols, organised by the Combined Churches of Yass, is always a popular family event.

Practice has already begun for this, and I look forward to attending on December 16 this year.

As I listen to the news around the world, I think spending some time with family and friends, celebrating them and with them, and being thankful for all we have, is a good thing to do.

There’s a lovely song sung at our church, “Give thanks with a grateful heart. Give thanks to the Holy One…”

Do you have a Christmas event coming up this holiday season? Add it to the Yass Tribune community diary – just fill out this form.