Holiday's Are Happening

I can hardly believe it is already December. Seems like there have been so many things distracting my mind from the holidays that I have been slower then everyone else in arriving into December. While most of my neighbors had their outdoor lights up the warm week of Thanksgiving, my house is still considering the effort. My Christmas tree has been a slow process that is protesting my small efforts every step of the way. I took it down from the attic and let it sit in the garage for about a week. The hope that Katrina might be coming to visit for the holidays encouraged me to drag it inside and put white lights on it. That evening Kiara and Matt came to dinner and the lighted tree twinkled from across the room acknowledging my effort. A good start, I thought.

But by morning my efforts were dashed when I plugged in the lights and to my dismay, no lights came on to greet me. What? I wiggled and inspected and swapped out lights until, in the end, I gave up and went on about my twinkleless day. That was when Katrina called crying to inform me that her and Kyle wouldn’t be able to make it home for Christmas. I was sad for her- but mostly for us, since she brightens up the holidays so much. She loves them. I encouraged her to get excited about new traditions that her and Kyle could create as their very own.


My words were a reminder to myself that I needed to heed my own advice, so I proceeded with my village set up. I thought it would be fun since my granddaughter would certainly love the little people and places we could arrange. Kiara and Victoria and I set the finishing touches on the village together with people going places and singing carols, lighted houses and lighthouses atop hills, and a variety of shops for our little shoppers to visit, all brightening up my dining room. Maybe it is the little girl in me that loves the Christmas village so much. I like imagining where the characters go, what they do and why and where the houses and bridges are located. It is practically the only thing I can feel like I control these days. .

Susan, like me, wants to be in control of something- someone. So, I gave her the nativity to set up. She had so much fun putting things where she wanted them. She stood over the manger scene seemingly intent on getting them just right for an half hour or so. Finally, after they were all in place as she had ordered them, she turned toward my village and the little houses and people there! I watched her cross the room and begin to move them into places she thought they ought to be, some of which I actually thought were brilliantly displayed, like the wooden bridge that she tucked neatly beside an imaginary snow bank where one might actually cross from Ace Hardware to the lower part of town.



It isn’t as though I don’t love the holiday; really I do. It is just that there have been so many things this season distracting me from getting into the spirit. It appears that I have been slow at filling my home with the outward signs of the spirit of the holidays, but I assure you that my whole year has been preparation for the true meaning of this season! In fact, I think that my heart understands the true significance of Christmas likely better than it ever has before. Perhaps the birth of God’s son, who came to earth to die for my sins and yours, is more clear and meaningful to me this Christmas.

Indeed, as I look at my little manger scene and the parents (Mary and Joseph) whose hearts must have been filled with awe, as beside them lie this child, I am struck by the incredible gift we have been given. The gift that that same son made possible when he went to the cross some thirty years later. The only begotten son of the Father who came and lived and died for me and for you. That sacrificial life and death of an only son is what Christmas is really all about.