Back in October I began my online search for an ornament that shared the Christmas story from the bible. I was looking for an ornament that had the actual bible verses from Matthew chapter 1:18-25 and Luke chapter 2:1-21 that tell how and where Jesus was born. It is the story of Jesus, the true meaning of why we celebrate Christmas. Every Christmas Eve we have a family tradition of reading this story directly from the bible. I thought it would be neat to pass this tradition onto fellow friends and family in my life in an easy way for them to do so. If the scriptures are on an ornament you can simply get it from the tree to read it each year on Christmas Eve.

I never did find those ornaments online so I decided to make them myself. I stopped keeping track of how many I made after I had made and gave 60 of them…to my Moms of Multiples board, to the ladies in my bible study, to some of my neighbors, to the ladies at the cookie exchange, to the ladies who sit at my MOPS table, and to our MOPS leaders to name a few.

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Above is a photo of the ornament and the chiffon bags I put them in to give to others (I buy these chiffon bags in bulk on EBay and they come in many shapes and sizes from a variety of sellers- most of which are from China and priced right). The ornaments are simply the bible story printed front and back on card stock and then laminated. I have had my laminator for yearshttp://amzn.to/1Ia5nGj and am obsessed with it (yes, I am type A personality).  I then used a hole punch on the top to attach a ribbon and a decorative ornament. I bought the ornaments I attached to the bible story from Hobby Lobby, the Dollar Tree, and Walmart. The Joy ornament was my favorite (that seems to be my word this year, hence the name of my blog), but they didn’t have enough at the Dollar tree so I had to find other similar ornaments elsewhere.

I began by getting the bible story copied from the Bible Gateway site. It is a free website that will look up scriptures for you and provide it in just about any version of the bible you want. https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/search=Luke+2&version=NIV (this link is to the Luke scriptures of the Christmas story). I pasted the scripture from their site to my Print Shop Professional program on my laptop. http://amzn.to/1NquPq4 I have been using this program or different versions of if for years. I have made lots of things on this program including newsletters, certificates, cards, name tags, and just about anything I have wanted to print; and needed something better than Microsoft word. I used it to make these ornaments and save them in PDF format so I could print more as needed. It is the most often used program on my laptop, outside of Microsoft word or the Internet.

Here is the completed ornament:

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The front side had the scriptures from Matthew 1:18-25

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18 This is how the birth of Jesus the Messiah came about[a]: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be pregnant through the Holy Spirit. 19 Because Joseph her husband was faithful to the law, and yet[b] did not want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her quietly. 20 But after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. 21 She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus,[c] because he will save his people from their sins.” 22 All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: 23 “The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel”[d] (which means “God with us”). 24 When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took Mary home as his wife. 25 But he did not consummate their marriage until she gave birth to a son. And he gave him the name Jesus.

The back side of the ornament had the scriptures from Luke 2:1-21

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2 In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world. 2 (This was the first census that took place while[a] Quirinius was governor of Syria.) 3 And everyone went to their own town to register.  4 So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David. 5 He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child. 6 While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, 7 and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no guest room available for them. 8 And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. 9 An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. 10 But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. 11 Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord. 12 This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.”  13 Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying,  14 “Glory to God in the highest heaven,
and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.” 15 When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let’s go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.” 16 So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger. 17 When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child, 18 and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them. 19 But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart. 20 The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told. 21 On the eighth day, when it was time to circumcise the child, he was named Jesus, the name the angel had given him before he was conceived.

It is important for my children to understand the true reason we celebrate Christmas. The best way to do this is to share the story from the bible with them every Christmas. I hope my Christian friends and family do the same too.