This season abounds with traditions. This year, we continued the tradition of putting up our Christmas tree and decorating our home the weekend before Thanksgiving. Now, before the lecture begins about how we have overlooked an important holiday to rush to a more celebrated one, let me explain.
Because we love thinking about all of the blessings in our lives, because we love the history associated with it, and because we spend it with our extended families, Thanksgiving is an important holiday to us. We have no desire to ignore it, but for practical reasons, we must put up our Christmas tree before we sit down to our turkey dinner. We simply enjoy returning from our travels to a home all ready for the Christmas season.
Often when our pre-Thanksgiving decorating weekend arrives, I am caught by surprised. Is it really that time of the year already? This year, the weather was unusually warm and baseball season unexpectedly long. Therefore, when the calendar stated it was time to trim the tree, I was ready to argue with it. But no, it was correct, as calendars usually are.
So two Saturdays ago, we pulled out the boxes of decorations, including our tree, and we continued the tradition we started over a decade ago. We had a lot of fun, too, as we adorned ourselves with Santa hats and began.
As customary, I decorated the house by hanging stockings, setting out manger scenes, and setting the table, while Mike and the boys put up the trees and added the lights and stars. As soon as the tree skirt was placed around the tree, Brandon quickly disappeared, yet soon returned with the first present to be placed beneath it. He surprised his daddy, who usually wins this unacknowledged competition. Before I knew it, all four of my guys had vanished. They soon reappeared with more gifts to place under our still ornament-less tree!
The decorating continued, and as we’ve done since Nicholas was a baby in my belly, I unwrapped all the ornaments, the boys put them on the trees, and Mike supervised, hanging the especially delicate ones and making sure all were distributed relatively evenly.
This year, we added another tree to our home – a thin, six foot tree for the boys to decorate mostly with their homemade ornaments. It sits in front of the dining room window. Our larger, thicker tree is centered in our home and shows no evidence of losing ornaments to its younger “sibling”.
As in years past, the boys helped Mike hang lights outside and assisted me in hanging the garland on the front porch. When night fell, we ooh-ed and aah-ed over the beauty of our lit up home. We concluded our memorable night of welcoming in the Christmas season by watching a favorite Christmas movie while enjoying mugs of hot chocolate topped with marshmallows. I’ll remember it as a perfect day!
Traditions are so much fun, and we anticipate many more in the days ahead as Christmas approaches. As we enjoy some of our beloved traditions this season, I will cherish them for the precious times they are, while remembering that it is not the traditions we are celebrating, but rather the birth of God’s Son, Jesus Christ, who came to earth so long ago to be our Savior. Traditions tend to evolve or fade away as children grow up and circumstances change, but God’s love and our salvation through His Son Jesus are everlasting!
“For God so loved the world that He gave his only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.” John 3:16
1 comment:
Love it! What was the movie you watched??
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