A Letter to Your Next-Christmas Self 🎄✍️

We’ve been big into writing letters at the Murphy house this year. Some of them have been more traditional, like the one we left for Santa on Christmas Eve.

The one I wasn’t expecting was the one my three-year-old wrote to Jesus.

Earlier this week, when my older son was sad over a broken toy, I shared the gospel story with him.

About how Jesus’ first advent is what we celebrate at Christmas, and that we’re still waiting for His second advent on a surprise day in the future.

I made the point that in God’s New City, there will be no more crying or sadness.

Then, he got so excited about Jesus coming again that he decided to write Jesus a letter for Christmas Eve, too.

He definitely has some of the narrative mixed up (i.e. the song ‘Santa is coming to town’…so Jesus must be coming on Christmas to eat his birthday cake).

I’m trusting that with more conversation, our earnest prayers, and primarily God’s sovereignty, the gospel truth will become precious to him and result in his salvation.

So far, he’s remarked, “Mom, I’m not crying anymore… the world must be fixed.”

Which has our family laughing but also pondering what it means when Jesus says, “Be like little children.”

One letter I’ve made a habit to write after every Christmas is one to next-Christmas me. I got the simple habit idea from my favorite interior designer, Myquillyn Smith.

That idea showed up for me right after one of those years.

I had a slew of last-minute Target runs, tossing random things in the cart for stockings and neighbor gifts.

My Pinterest ideas that were inspiring in September would start feeling impossible in December.

It was followed by a shame spiral when I opened my card statement in January and realized how far I’d gone over my budget.

Since then, this little habit of writing to “Next-Christmas-Me” has helped me curb the impulse Amazon buys “just in case.”

I’m able to make room for the best things instead of all the things.

I’ve used a scrap piece of paper or the back of an envelope in past years to scratch my list on. This year, I turned that habit into a simple, fill-in-the-blank page.

Print it, jot down your thoughts while this Christmas is still fresh, and tuck it into your bin for next December-you to find.

It’s like a bright star pointing you in the most meaningful direction.