And he puzzled and puzzled ’till his puzzler was sore. Then the Grinch thought of something he hadn’t before.
      What if Christmas, he thought, doesn’t come from a store. What if Christmas, perhaps, means a little bit more."

    2) Look around

      Mary told Joseph she was pregnant.  Joseph thought she had been unfaithful.  Joseph could have stoned Mary, but instead, he chose to "put her away privately."  The key here is, Joseph didn't act hastily.  He had compassion.  

       In the leading to Christmas, look around.  There are people who are hurting.  Be considerate of them.  Encourage someone.  Help someone  

   3) Let love abound.

       As you look around, when you are aware of someone who is hurting, help them out.  Lend them a helping  hand.  

       In the movie a "Christmas Carol" Ebenezer Scrooge is confronted with the ghosts of Christmas past.  His confrontation with these ghosts convinces him he needs to change his attitude toward Christmas.  

     Wally Purling was a nine year old boy who captured the right attitude about Christmas. Wally was big for his age and was also a little slow mentally. But although he was big, he wasn't a bully. Everybody liked him. He was nice to all the kids; in fact he took up for them all the time. They were doing a Christmas program in his school and Wally wanted to be in it. He wanted to be a shepherd, but the teacher had another part in mind for him.

     She wanted him to be the inn keeper because he was so big. Wally took the part home and studied it and practiced hard. The night came for the play and everything was going smoothly. It came to the time when Mary and Joseph knocked on the door of the inn and Wally opened the door and said, "What do you want?" Joseph said, "We need a place to stay for the night." Wally replied, "You've got to find somewhere else; the inn is full." "Are you sure?"

     Joseph asked. "We've come a long way nad it's cold." Wally replied, "No, there's no place here, go someplace else." But my wife is going to have a baby, isn't there some corner we can hide in?" At this point in the play there was a silence, one of those embarrassing silences that made you believe that somebody had forgotten his line. Wally stood there, not saying anything. The prompter whispered, "no, be gone!" So Wally said, "No, be gone!"

    Joseph put his arm around Mary and turned to walk away from the inn. It was at this point that this Christmas play took an unusual twist. Wally was big, but he had a heart just as big and couldn't stand seeing Mary and Joseph walk away. He suddenly said, "Wait a minute, Joseph. Bring Mary back. You can have my room.

      What's your attitude like regarding Christmas?  Don't be a scrooge... learn from the example of Joseph; slow down, look around and let love abound.