As we move into December, it is starting to feel like Christmas is getting close. More people are putting up their Christmas lights. I got mine up the other day, before the snow came. I’d already put up the strings of lights. Now I have put up the two wooden cut-outs that a man at my last church made. One is of the Nativity, and the other is Joy. I put floodlights on them, one of red and the other is blue this year. I have to be sure to make the Joy, which is painted red, have the red floodlight because if you put a blue or green one on it then it turns black. No one wants a black joy!
I’ve also put up my Christmas tree. I keep my decorations up through Advent and Christmas until Epiphany, so I prefer an artificial tree. I generally have it up for a few days so that the cats get used to the idea of having it there. They don’t try to climb it, though they sometimes try chewing the fake needles. Once they start to ignore the tree then I can start to add the decorations. They have a few I put at the bottom that they like to play with, but they leave my special ones alone.
Some people buy decorations in batches so that they can make a fashionably decorated tree. One year may be red and gold, another year silver and blue. My tree isn’t like that. All of my decorations have stories. Some are very old ones, broken and scruffy, that my husband had as a child. Rudolf may be missing a part of one leg, but he still has a place on the tree. There’s the first one my parents gave me, and the one called “Love” that my husband gifted to me the Christmas before he proposed. There are a few “Baby’s First Christmas” and one with a chicken sitting on an egg for the baby who was born December 30th. There are the ones given by one of my choir directors who gave one to all the choir members each year, and there is the one talking about my husband’s first Christmas in heaven. They all have memories attached to them, and they are all precious to me. I’m not sure when I will have the courage to walk with those memories again this year. But in some ways it is harder to leave the tree bare.
Christmases are full of memories. Some are wonderful! I remember my baby sister enjoying her first apple. Before that she only had pieces. She took the whole day, carrying it around and nibbling on her very own apple! Some Christmases were hard, like knowing it would be my husband’s last Christmas with us. Those memories are bittersweet! Now, as the family grows with the grandchildren, the memories we are making are happy ones again.
As you move into your Christmas memories, and whatever triggers them for you, remember what Christmas is really all about. Emmanuel, God with us. Walking with us in good times, and in difficult times. Coming to bring light and joy into even the darkest December night. Enjoy the time with friends and family, next year is not guaranteed for anyone, ever.
I hope you all enjoy your Christmas Season!
