For the first day of December, I chose two songs that I knew would help me get in the spirit of the month. The first song, “Come Home for Christmas,” hit me with special resonance when I heard it this year. “Coming home for Christmas” has taken on a literal meaning for me lately. My job has me on the road quite a bit, and I so look forward to being home with my wife and little ones after long trips. I’m so grateful (and often feel undeserving) that I get to come home to my wife Kallie and our children that I love.

This song speaks not only of the literal coming home for Christmas, but also of coming home “to a story that’s still true” and to “come home to a Savior who came down from heaven just for you.” I strive and desire to come home to Jesus every day. Matthew West sings, “How long has it been since you and your heart talked to Jesus?” Coming home to our Savior is choosing to follow and live like Him. It’s remembering Him and the precious gift that He gives us. What a blessing to have a Savior who was born, lived, and died for each of us!

The other song I chose for today is a favorite of mine that I’ve listened to since I was a kid. Thanks to my dad, I gained a love for John Denver, and in particular, his Christmas album with the Muppets. In the song “A Baby Just Like You,” John Denver contemplates the Christmas season, especially as a father with a baby of his own. After now having three babies of my own with my wife Kallie, I think every Christmas about how I can teach them more about Christ and His birth. John Denver sings, “You’ve given back my joy in life, and filled me with new meaning.”

The song reminds me that just as the Magi came to Christ with gifts, I too can come with my own gifts. The gift I desire to give to my children is that they may gain their own testimony of Jesus Christ, and that through good deeds and striving to live right, peace on earth (even when it seems so dark and difficult) can fill our time.