Celebrate

In the quiet of the evening, as the sky starts to darken, my eyes wander around our house, looking at the results of our many hours (days) of Christmas decorating.  In our family room alone, we have displays of so many special Santas, snowmen, treasured lighted houses, and nativities.  These are collected treasures over the 48 years of our marriage, many of them gifts from special friends and family.  If you wandered through the other rooms in our home, you would either think we were crazy because of all the decorations or smile, realizing how much my husband and I love to celebrate this blessed, favorite holiday.  We celebrate Christmas by believing in the magic of Santa Clause, along with the true “reason for the season.”  Celebrating Christmas in our home IS celebrating the birth of the baby Jesus.  As you continue on the tour of our home, it would be evident by the innumerable displays of nativities that we love them and what they represent to us personally.  We cherish it all, from the small Christmas tree in our bedroom that we call “our night light”, adorned with everything related to Christ’s birth, to both small and large nativities spread throughout our home.  Each one is special and lovingly unwrapped every year with excitement to celebrate the true meaning of Christmas.  How visible is the baby Jesus in your holiday celebration?  Is it evident in your home and your heart the true reason for which we celebrate this time of year?  All of our preparations are meaningless if we focus only on shopping, buying the perfect gifts, running from store to store, getting Christmas cards mailed and the many things that send us into a tailspin at Christmas.   To embrace this sacred holiday means we first must have our precious Christ child, Mary and Joseph, the shepherds, the wise men, this miracle, at the center of all we celebrate.    While all the other wonderful traditions we look forward to every year with joy are important, the birth of Jesus IS the reason for the season!  What are some of your favorites?  I love watching Christmas movies, many of the classics, with my husband in the evenings.  I love having family and friends over to celebrate with good food and spirits and preparing our favorite recipes to share.  I love waking up on Christmas morning and our tradition of opening gifts.  I love the tradition of our Christmas breakfast of crepes topped with fruit compote and bacon.  But the glue that holds all these favorites together is the reason why we celebrate – the birth of our savior, Jesus Christ.   Let’s enjoy and embrace this beautiful time of year with all that it brings but keeping the sacred image of the birth of Jesus in his lowly manger with the bright light shining from above, leading us always towards Him every day of the year.

“You will have joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth.”  Luke 1:14