iRetire4Him Show 154: A Simple Christmas Challenge for Retirees

Jim: Welcome to a special edition Christmas edition of iRetire4Him. I know we're still a few days off from Christmas, but we wanted to have a special edition for Christmas so you could get some ideas on how you can celebrate Christmas in your retirement years.

Welcome to iRetire4Him. We are your hosts, Jim and Martha Brangenberg. Christmas is around the corner, and in your retired years you may think that your ministry opportunities are limited and rare. But today Martha and I wanna unpack a foolproof way for you to love on your neighbors this Christmas season. Martha, Christmas it's your special time of year, isn't it?

Martha: I think it's everybody's special time of year, but I certainly love it and embrace it and look forward to all that it entails, yes.

Jim: So what do you love about Christmas?

Martha: Honestly, everything, about the smells, the visuals, the reason for Christmas - the real reason for Christmas, that Jesus came into the world, and for all that we have made it to be as far as gathering and family and serving our favorite foods. Just, we really are very intentional at Christmas and I guess that's maybe one of the things I love so much.

Jim: This time of year can be hard on our retired neighbors. We've lived in retirement neighborhoods as young people twice in Florida. Now we live in a neighborhood full of all different kinds of ages, but let's talk about how this time of year can be hard on our neighbors that are retired. Why?

Martha: I think there's physical limitations that are really tough in retirement. Everything from wanting to put up Christmas lights to shopping, and just the extra effort that those things that take intentionality can maybe put on you, can make you feel overwhelmed.

It can be hard, it can be disappointing. I think a lot of those things where it's oh, I used to do this and now I just can't do it anymore. And I'm not saying that everyone that is in the retirement stage is physically limited, but the reality is that our bodies slowly don't allow us to do all the things that we used to do or we shouldn't do.

There's just that time when you shouldn't be up on the ladder anymore. So I think that can make it really hard on people. Also just not being able to travel as easily as maybe you used to or being limited in finances, so you can't do some of the things that you used to be able to do when you knew that you were in a income generating stage of life. I don't know. What else do you think of, Jim, that might be harder?

Jim: Because you're living alone, you're not going to work every day. If you're retired, living that American dream, sometimes it can get lonely. And I think that's really the point of today's show. We all live in a neighborhood of some sort or another. And whether you've done that retirement thing and gone to Florida, or gone to Arizona, or gone to some other warm climate, you may not be around family at Christmas time. Because your family's limited on how much vacation they can have. And coming down for Christmas every year is a little tougher on them.

Martha: And having multiple sides of families to even just split your time between. So that's just a logistical hardship.

Jim: So if you find yourself at home alone, you and your spouse, or you alone this Christmas season, we've got some ideas, some ministry opportunity ideas for you to live out because this is the iRetire4Him Podcast, and the whole idea is for you to live out your faith in your retirement years. We wrote a book about this.

Martha: Yes, we did.

Jim: And in this book, what we talked about was that, listen, it's not biblical to retire, just check out to go on vacation for 30 years. There's so many opportunities in front of you for living out your faith in your retired years. You just have more freedom in retirement than you did before you retired, but there's some intentionality that you can live with in these retirement years, and one of our favorite times at Christmas is to get involved with your neighbors.

We've done this, Martha. We've lived in neighborhoods that are all retired for the most part, and we've tried to celebrate those years. What is your favorite way? What is our favorite way to love our neighbors this time of year, Martha?

Martha: Feed them.

Jim: Food, the international language of love. Yes. (laughter)

Martha: And there's so many different ways that can go. And I think the bottom line is don't make it difficult on yourself and don't make it overwhelming, but just find it as an opportunity to say, you know what? I'm gonna bake an extra batch of cookies and I'm gonna share 'em with my neighbor. Or I'm gonna make this punch that feeds so many people, so I never make it because it would be too much for just us to have.

 (talking to Jim)

Martha: I know, the coffee mocha ice cream punch.

Jim: Yeah, actually I was go into the Sherbert punch.

Martha: Oh yeah, we have some, but that's just my example right there. What a fun thing to do. In Florida, Jim, we would set up a card table in our open garage and put some food out and invite some people over and just say, Hey, let's have some punch and cookies, or let's whatever it might be.

Jim: Missouri could do the same thing. We just have to have a heater running.

Martha: Definitely. Definitely. So we have to explore those options a little bit differently. But the reality is that I think a lot of us get hung up on, oh, how hard it's gonna be, and it's complex and it's overwhelming and it's gonna be expensive, and it's gonna be this and going to be that when in fact, I think we enjoy these simple things sometimes the most.

Jim: It doesn't have to be all those things.

Martha: Just taking the initiative to do something with our neighbors is a great place to start.

Jim: That brings up a good point.

Martha: Okay. What point would that be, Jim?

Jim: Do you know your neighbors? Do we know all the people that live around us? I think in Missouri we've gotten to know a little bit of them. It's a little harder. In Florida, we lived closer together, so we get to know our neighbors even quicker. In Missouri, the yards are bigger and you have to really go outta your way to get to know people.

But everybody listening, do you know the names of your neighbors? Just even, let's just say in front of you, next to you and behind you. Not even Kitty-Corner. Do you know those neighbors? Do they know you? Do you know their kids' names? Do you know their spouse's names? Do you know your neighbors?

Because it's awkward to invite people over for dinner if you don't even know their name. Hey, you wanna come over for dinner? Who are you? Just to get to know your neighbor's names.

Martha: This is a good time of year to, it's a great time of year having an excuse to do that. So maybe they've lived there for several years and you've just never taken that initiative. Make that extra plate of cookies, put a card on it with your name and your phone number and give it to them and say, you know what? We've never really officially taken the opportunity to introduce ourselves. Here's our information about our family. Just know that we're here if you ever need anything, have our phone number on hand. Merry Christmas.

That's it. And then hopefully they'll wanna share that information with you as well. But I love when we can take advantage of a time to do something we've always wanted to do, but we haven't. And say, you know what? This is the year. I'm just gonna do that with two neighbors. Don't try to attempt all 15 people on your block if that's too overwhelming, but start with just a couple.

Okay, this is a good time. I'm gonna tell something that used to happen in Fort Myers, which we only got to experience this for one year, but I thought it was so great. I'm gonna share this with everybody. We got socked. Do you remember when we got socked? You don't even remember. So, cute little game that the neighbors played, and I have the rules for it. And they took a picture of a Christmas stocking and it was just to be taped to your window.

And basically they just shared a Christmas stocking of some goodies with you, and then you put the sign in your window so that all your neighbors know that you've already been socked. And then you go and put it on somebody else's door and give them some little gifts. And then they've been socked. And the hope is that by Christmas or by New Year's, everybody right around you has reciprocated and everybody's been socked.

Jim: I was thinking when you said, sock, flamingo. We were flamingoed.

Oh

Martha: yeah. Yeah.

Jim: And we were never flamingoed or socked. I was picturing socks in my front yard all over the place. I remember when we passed that Christmas stocking.

Martha: But you never have to see anybody. You just assume that they're gonna enjoy it and be surprised and delighted, and then they're gonna pass it on to somebody.

So you put the rules in the little stocking so that they know what to do with this thing. And then you give them a copy to put in their window that says, I've been socked. And it's just a fun way of hundreds, if not thousands, of ideas that you can use to break the ice.

Jim: It's so important that we get a chance to love on our neighbors. And inviting our neighbors into our home is powerful because it's our territory. It's the place where we do our quiet time. It's the place where we pray together. And getting people in our home gives us a chance to love on other people. And that's why we're encouraging you to take some time.

You've got a few days to plan. How are you going to love on your neighbors this Christmas? Will you invite 'em in your home? It doesn't have to be for a whole meal. It could just be for dessert. It could be for a cookie exchange. Everybody loves Christmas cookies and people have some weird recipes that you might wanna experience.

Martha: If not, have 'em bring the coffee.

Jim: If they got some weird recipes, yeah. All right. Do you have to feed everybody? No. You could potluck, is one of the greatest things, and, we did for our, with our small group a couple years ago, we did one of those dirty Christmas santa things, not naughty Christmas.

What do they call it? Like white, A white elephant gift. Yeah, white elephant gift exchange. They called it something else. It sounded naughty, but it wasn't, and that was hilarious. People pulled some out, some would joke, gift exchange. Just find something in your house that you can repurpose and bring it and people found some really old stuff that they needed to get rid of long ago, and they wrapped it up to give it away. Some of those gifts from the eighties. So the funny Christmas exchange, it's just hilarious to them. People fight for the best gifts.

Martha: And really, Jim, what's the bottom line? It gives them something in common to talk about in the future, a memory together. It's fun. So there's something about us creating those endorphins or whatever, that allows us to have, gives us permission to have fun that we just sometimes don't do. And maybe you could play a game. There's all kinds of things you can do, but again, it's not about making it so elaborate and stressful that you don't enjoy yourself, but just have some people over.

We've played bunko with people. Look it up if you don't know what it is. There's all k i n d s of games that you can do to just break the ice and make some great memories together.

Jim: All right, speaking of gifts, we have a gift for you, our iRetire4Him listening audience. This is for a resource that could take you deeper into helping you gain perspective, be encouraging, even adjust your thinking about retirement. We offer our book, iRetire4Him: Unlock God's Purpose for Your Retirement. It's filled with great stories from Martha's dad that keep it entertaining and real.

And it's great information from us on practical ways to live out your faith in your retirement years, whether it's going back to work with intention or retiring with intention, but it's got lots of ideas in it. This book be yours for free and also sent to your friends just for the cost of shipping. Cover our cost of shipping and we will get the book out to you or your friends as a gift. Email me, jim@iwork4him.com to request a copy.

Martha: All right. So as we said, learning to love your neighbors is something all of us really need to and can work on. And so let's talk about some of the best ways that we can get started this year. What can we do before the year ends? Jim, got some ideas?

Jim: All right, cookies. Just make a plate of cookies. Give 'em to your neighbors. The sock thing was pretty cool, which just put treats and put it in your neighbors and have it passed around. That's a great thing. Have a small little Christmas gathering. Nothing fancy. Don't make people dress all up, but sometimes they might wanna dress up. But just invite people into your home, Christmas Eve party.

If people are gonna be alone, invite 'em to your Christmas dinner at your home with you and your family. If you've got some family in town, don't let people be alone on Christmas. That's not great.

Martha: You can even share a leftover plate of food after Christmas. Who doesn't love that, right?

Jim: Although we're probably having prime rib this year. I'm not sure I'm gonna share that with my neighbors.

Martha: Then you need to check your heart.

 (laughing)

Jim: I just really like prime rib. And if you're looking, aldi, if you've got an Aldi in your town, look for the Aldi Prime Rib Sale.

Martha: This show is not sponsored by Aldi.

Jim: It is not. Another free advertising for your local grocery store, aldi, we'd like to have one in our town. All right, but. Just find out your neighbor's names. Find out.

Martha: I was just thinking, we have a community parade in our town and so maybe it's saying, Hey, we're gonna go to the parade. Will you go with us? Because there's some fun in doing that together, but you don't have to plan anything except for getting there and going back home. And then you've created a memory together and you've gotten more people involved in the community that maybe would not have gone. That's just a gift that keeps on giving.

Jim: And Martha loves to share Christmas memories. I've got a couple of funny ones. The year, the Christmas tree caught on fire, and I think it was caused by the cat, but I don't know, it wasn't totally Christmas vacation, but it was close. Share your story, your Jesus story with someone at Christmas because Jesus did come as the Christ child at Christmas time. It's the significance of the season. No, he probably wasn't born at Christmas time. But it's fun to celebrate it at Christmas time. Share the story of how Jesus changed your life. That's what Christmas is really all about. It's not about the gifts because they all wear out. It's not about the trees. 'cause a lot of our trees wear out too. But it's about Jesus who never wears out. That good news. Never gets old.

Martha: Such a good point. So again, being intentional and just segueing into that, because it is Christmas, they have come to you or come at your invitation into your home or whatever the decision was or where you're going or what you're doing, but somehow tie it back to Christmas and make that what it's all about.

Jim: And if you're looking for an easy way to support iRetire4Him in 2026, we'd love to have you do that. Just round up. We have a program through Project World Impact that allows you to have all of your purchases on your credit card be rounded up to the nearest dollar and then donated to our ministry, your pennies donated to iWork4Him. Learn more at iWork4Him.com/donate and get signed up today. It'd be a great way to just get rid of your change and give it to iWork4Him.

So from our home to your home, we wish you a Merry Christmas. We pray that Christmas time this year will be different and full of ministry opportunities in your retired years, way more than you ever expected. Because in this retirement phase of life, we all want our lives to be full of meaning and purpose so that we can say iRetire4Him. Merry Christmas!