6 More Sleeps 'til Christmas

I love Christmas, I have ever since I was a kid...although back then it was for more obvious reasons....presents! Lots and lots of presents! Since I've gotten older I've really fallen in love with the holiday for another reason. When Ben and I first got married, I went all out. Every single room was decorated in some way. Nothing over the top, our budget never allowed that, but I always made sure that in every room and from every angle that you sat, there was something "Christmasy" in your line of vision. It was fun and cheerful. However, over the years as life got in the way with busy schedules and destinations to be, decorating the house became less and less of a priority. Then some years I would have grand visions of all the wonderful things I was going to do for the holiday season only to be so exhausted that by December 24th I still hadn't put up a tree and I was totally ok with that. The ebb and flow of family and friend relations as well as finances also affected how we celebrated. Some Christmases it would feel like a greeting card with the happy hustle and bustle of activity, while other years we would sit with the poor and homeless at a community shelter, listening and empathizing to stories of life. Some years there would be many gifts exchanged, other years not even a card.
Each year though, regardless of it's joy or sad loneliness, I have still loved Christmas. However, it's taken on a deeper meaning to me. It used to be all about the gifts, decorations, music, food and being surrounded by people....however now, to me it has really, truly become the realization that without the true meaning of Christmas...I wouldn't have the true meaning of Easter...and without the true meaning of Easter....I would be lost.

Yes, it's true....generations ago a group of people combined a pagan holiday with a Christian meaning to create a day in the wrong season of the year to honor the savior who died for me. Over those same generations that altered holiday has become so over commercialized to the point that the true meaning has been lost on the masses. However, the fact still remains that with all it's faults...Christmas honors the birth of the one who died with you and me on his mind and heart. It's not about the highs or the lows of the festivities of the day. It's about the shadow of a cross cast by a star....a star that led the way to where a baby slept peacefully warmed by the breath of stable animals while His earthly parents, one by birth and one by marriage, sat in awe at the lack of festivity to celebrate a child that they knew had been not only sent by, but also entrusted into their clumsy human care, by God Himself to save the world.

We only have a few sleeps left this year until Christmas day. You may be faced with overwhelming last minute shopping and menu planning, or you may be faced with loneliness and silence. Whichever you're faced with, I challenge you to love this holiday. Don't love it because of what we've been taught by culture that it represents...that's temporal, love it because without the birth of Christ, the temporal could not hold hope of the eternal.

💮 Joy All Ways,
Fran