Merry Christmas Eve podcast listeners episode number 499 is a special episode with Pastor John, of course, but also with Noel.

Noel makes a rare cameo appearance with us today to talk about Christmas traditions in the Piper household.

And so we'll start with you, Pastor John. You've had kids in the house for over 40 years.

So what did Christmas look like in the Piper home when you had kids around? What were your goals?

Christmas Day and how we celebrate it, how everybody celebrates it, ought to mark an event that is 10 million times more important than any event that has ever happened in the last 2000 years since Jesus rose from the dead.

God, the creator of the universe, infinitely holy, just, wise, good, upholding the universe by the word of His power, absolutely independent of us and doesn't need us, existing forever without us, took on human nature.

And entered this world precisely to die for sinners so that we could live forever in joy with Him and not perish under God's wrath.

So it is an absolute understatement when the angels said at Jesus' birth, fear not for behold, I bring you good news of great joy.

We wish there were words better, right? Great joy that will be for all the people.

So we've had two goals at the Piper house over the years with our five kids and our guests pervasively Christ centered, because that's what it's about, and great joy, because that's the effect the angels said it ought to have, and it does have what you really grasped what it is.

And so that meant for us way back what 45 years ago, plus rethinking everything that people usually do, and some things stayed in our tradition that we did growing up and other things went and some things were adapted and some things were just totally created new.

Santa Claus went, he is not a helpful participant in this, he is a distraction from the majesty and joyfulness of Christ giving gifts, stayed, that seemed to us like a beautiful, wonderful, happy expression of the heart of God in generosity to us.

And then we adapted and created things. So Noel's here with me, and the Piper's said about transforming their house for the kids and for guests so that everywhere they look, they see Christmas, Christmas, and it's real meaning.

So Noel, what has guided you in particular, because you really came up with a lot of these, what's guided your thinking as you've put things in place for the holidays?

One of the things that I learned when our kids were really young is that very young kids aren't understanding symbols, so it's the things that are tangible.

And so right away when I'm thinking about Christmas, what am I thinking about Bethlehem and the stable and thinking and talking about what God was doing there?

So manger scenes, crashes are a main part of what's in our house or in our windows for people outside to see during the Christmas season.

There's one main manger scene that we've had almost our whole marriage that's on a special table in the living room, that's the first thing you see when you walk into our house, when you walk into the living room, under that table is where we gather our gifts to each other.

And then there are manger scenes and things that represent Bethlehem all over the place, whenever anybody's traveling somewhere, and they ask me if they could bring me a gift, I always say, I'd love to have a manger scene from there.

So we've got elephants at our manger scene.

Because the wise men came from the east and we don't know they came on camels.

So over in the dining room, on the buffet, there's another thing that's a little unusual, what do you call it, what is it, why do we do it?

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