Every year around this time, I have a familiar experience. I'm out shopping, and I'll go through the checkout line, and pay for my stuff. When the cashier hands me back the change, they'll say "Happy holidays," or perhaps even "Merry Christmas." I'm aware that they may be saying this because they've been told to, and suspicious of the whole business. But at least once every year, I have a cashier who looks me in the eye and says "Merry Christmas," and really means it. And it changes my whole day.

We're featuring a different Advent Devotional on each of the next five Sundays, closing the series on Dec. 23. Our first devotional focused on Zechariah and his visit from Gabriel. We hope these meditations will be a blessing to you!

Zechariah's dilemma is recounted by Luke in Chapter 1 of his Gospel. How would you respond? That's the subject of the first of our Advent Devotions, titled simply "Zechariah." We hope these meditations will be a blessing to you!

The earliest Advent can begin is November 27 and the latest is December 3. Advent begins on the fourth Sunday before Christmas Day, which is the Sunday nearest November 30, and ends on Christmas Eve (Dec 24). When Christmas Eve is a Sunday, as is the case this year, it is counted as the fourth Sunday of Advent, with Christmas Eve proper beginning at sundown.

For more, see our Advent Resources page.

Rather than adding to the hype and sales for Wal-Mart, Best Buy and other retailers, I felt this would be an opportunity to instead shine a spotlight on the many Christian retailers. These companies and individuals have placed their faith at the center of their lives and their business. I encourage you to visit these web sites and consider supporting these businesses. Keep Christ at the center of Christmas with gifts that uplift your family and your faith.

• Crossings : A major online Christian bookstore. Get your first 5 Christian books for just 99 cents.
• Family Christian Boosktore: Save up to 75 percent at FamilyChristian.com's Clearance Center.
• JesusBranded.com: Witness Wear. "We make the clothes. You live Jesus Branded."
• Bibles.Org: Select Bibles in many styles and more than 200 languages.
• Simply Youth Ministry: Teaching help for high school and junior high students from Doug Fields.
• VisionVideo: Quality Christian movies and videos from Gateway Films.
• YouthMinistry.com: Ministry tools for Junior High students.
• Answers In Genesis: Resources for life, family and apologetics.

• Christmas Poems: An extensive collection of Christmas poems compiled by the Marian Center at the University of Dayton.
• Christmas Poems: A nice collection of traditional Christmas poems, some dating as far back as the 14th century.
• Apples 4 The Teacher: Excellent collection of Chirtsmas poems and recitals for children.
• A Holy Christmas - Poems: Richard Fairchild's excellent collection of Christmas links has a fine poetry section.

Are there any good resources we've missed? If so, share them in the comments.

There's a company that makes T-shirts with spiritual themes. One of them shows an airplane being flown by a frantic pilot. The shirt says "If God is your co-pilot, switch seats." That's a statement that's simple, but sort of sums up our struggle. We often talk about how faith is hard. But I believe a certain amount of faith is really not difficult at all. It's not hard to acknowledge God. And I don't think it's hard for me to make God my co-pilot. Like this: "God, you keep an eye on the horizon and the dials and gauges while I fly the plane. But you be ready in case a storm comes up or we lose an engine or the wing falls off, because then I'm gonna need you to save the day."

The TeachingMOM Advent Calendar is an outstanding example of how a Web-based Advent calendar can be a great resource for family worship. Each day's entry features an abundance of goodies. Here's how TeachingMom's Leigh Ann describes it:

Every day on the TeachingMOM Advent Calendar is full of goodies to help you and your family create some wonderful traditions this Advent and Christmas, as well as have some good old-fashioned fun! You'll probably learn a few interesting facts about the season as well. We've collected some of the best on the net - and your public library! - for you all in one convenient spot. But don't feel that you should be doing everything listed on each day! The Advent Calendar was made to be used over again for as many years as you can get something out of it.

To help readers learn about the movie, we've created a special page on our site with news and reviews of The Nativity Story. It includes links to the official web site for the film, as well as numerous articles in Christian media. There are also links that provide background about an off-screen controversy involving the 16-year-old actress who plays Mary, Keisha Castle-Hughes, is single and pregnant. We'll keep updating as reviews and box office figures become available, and hope this page will eb a useful resource for Christians who are interested in "The Nativity Story."

Ours is a birch log, approximately 4 feet in length. It contains a candle hole for each day of Advent, plus one for the Christmas holy day itself. Traditionally, families use purple and pink candles for the Advent log, similar to the candle coloring of Advent wreaths.

The Everyday Mommy blog includes a "Keep Christ in Christmas" section that reinforces the many ways, large and small, that we can maintain our focus on the real "reason for the season." Jules also offers a beautiful "Keep Christ in Christmas" graphic badge for other bloggers to share the sentiment and spread the Message. Great stuff, and definitely worth a visit, bookmark and/or RSS subscription.

Wilson is also an ordained minister and his Joyful Heart ministry offers wonderful Christian reflections on major holidays. His Christmas site has long been on our list of favorite links, and Ralph also has a page of Christian Thanksgiving articles. These include "How the Pilgrims Got their Name," which traces the history of the early Separatists from England to the New World, and "Cranberry Sauce and Pumpkin Pie," an essay on thanking God on Thanksgiving day. We're confident you'll be blessed!

But Reed also notes that Thanksgiving services can be an important ministry opportunity:

The pastor of an Atlanta church told us that Thanksgiving was becoming for them the new seeker's holiday. They found that people curious about faith would attend thanks-themed worship services with their believing friends. For seekers, Thanksgiving is a less demanding holiday than Christmas, which requires belief in the improbable (a Virgin birth?), or Easter, with its claims to exclusivity (must Christ be the only Way?). Everyone has something to be thankful for, and most people recognize that something beyond themselves must be credited with their blessings.

Richard is a United Church of Canada ordained minister serving the St. Andrew's Pastoral Charge full time in Golden, British Columbia. Charlene is a retired nurse who does contract website design and copywriting for a small web design team, Bits & Bytes Computing. The Fairchilds offer many resources they have developed themselves, as well as an abundance of categorized links, including articles on holiday stress as well as many celebratory links and even Christmas odds and ends. You'll find much to explore at A Holy Christmas.

Peggie describes her site as "The most fun Christian home on the World Wide Web!" This inviting and comprehensive site features pages dedicated to Christmas devotionals and an impressive list of Christmas links, as well as several of Peggie's famous Top 10 lists. Peggie also now has a Peggie's Place blog at Blogger. All are worthy resources.