When I grew up I LOVED December. Christmas trees, Christmas carols, the manger scene, A Charlie Brown Christmas on TV and Frosty, and Rudolph, and Santa!!! Thank GOD the elf on the shelf didn't exist back then. I don't like those. ...creepy! 😒 When the tree went up, Dad would put on Bing or Nat and we'd decorate the tree and sing songs. It was wonderful! The anticipation of Santa coming was always exciting...and Christmas eve candle light service was the best (how often do kids get to hold candles?)
My brother was a great "snooper" so by the time I was 6 and he was 8, Mum and Dad would booby trap the hallway so we couldn't "peek" out and see what Santa was doing...although we knew that if we didn't go to sleep Santa wouldn't come, but that didn't stop my bro from getting up and taking a look after midnight.
Usually around 5 we would go out and check out our Santa gifts...in our house Santa always brought us one gift that was opened and ready to play with...I guess he was thinking of our parents getting to sleep in while we quietly enjoyed our gifts! Finally, after Mum and Dad got up we would go about the business of ripping open all the other presents under the tree...those being from family, not Santa. I knew that he brought lots of presents to some of my other friends, but only the one to us...but we didn't care. haha
Then we'd have a nice Turkey dinner with all the trimmings and Mum always had apple pie and pumpkin pie for dessert. It was a wonderful tradition and I have many great memories of those years.
As an adult, I liked celebrating the Christmas traditions with my kids. My husband and I continued the traditions of Santa bringing one present all ready to play with, and while he isn't a Christian, I always got the boys to Candle light service. It was always nice.
After the boys grew up, however, there was a bad experience with Christmas for me and the idea of decorating or anything just didn't excite me anymore. I was sick of hearing Christmas songs starting in October. Tired of Christmas before Thanksgiving and just...eh, tired of it all. It just seemed pointless. Except of course the Christian element. I always looked forward to the first coming of Jesus and looking for His second coming. God was never boring to me, just the "trappings" of Christmas.
Then...*drumroll please* Kyleigh came into our lives. Kyleigh is my grand daughter, and someone to once again have fun with Christmas. There was turmoil in the family when she was young, and I still had not lost my "funk" of being tired of Christmas, but in the past few years something has changed. This little person, so joyfully loves to sing Christmas carols (albeit WAY out of tune) and loves to decorate and most importantly loves to hear about Jesus! It's funny how God works. He always comes full circle. So now, while I still love Church the best when it comes to Christmas, the joy of the "season" has climbed back into my life!
I pray for all of you who read this a Merry Christmas and blessed Advent! And if you celebrate Hanukah or Kwanza or nothing at all, I also pray blessings upon you and your family. God is good all the time! And all the time God is Good!!!
No comments:
Post a Comment