Just a few final moments to quietly sit in front of our Christmas tree.
It’s been a wonderful couple of days off school. A triple batch of Chex mix is in the oven for our belated Christmas this week-end in the Cities. But first, I need to take some time in front of the tree.
This year, we only put up the small tree in the family room. Everyone had been home for Thanksgiving, so it didn’t seem to be important to put up the larger tree in the living room too. Still, this one was my favorite. Bright, shiny red balls against the dark green needles of the Target after-Christmas sale tree a few years ago. The soft white lights always seem to have a twinkly-magic to me.
My focus, though, is not the tree. It is the nativity set underneath. The rough-hewn stable was a Royal Rangers project my husband did with our youngest son several years ago. The glued-on hay is nearly gone now (think ‘Velveteen Rabbit and his fur being loved off’). The figurines, purchased at a going-out-of-business sale at a local drugstore, remained miraculously intact even with three boys helping to decorate and un-decorate each year.
This is one of my favorite spots during Christmas (the other being in the kitchen baking cookies!). Mary, Joseph and the shepherds quietly positioned in awe of the Baby in the manger. I try to imagine the thoughts running through Mary’s mind as she experienced childbirth away from home. Joseph, trying his best to help her, understood that the child was not his, but His. Oh, the heavy weight of fatherhood he must have felt.
The angels are an intricate part of this story. It was an angel who talked with Mary and Joseph, separately, about the Baby. The angels announced the news to the shepherds, interrupting their very-ordinary third-shift job. The angels had been waiting such a long time for this exact moment in time. Imagine the sounds of celebration ringing throughout the halls of heaven that night.
But then my own thoughts are interrupted for a moment. It’s nearly time to pack away the beautiful decorations, including the tree and manger scene. How quickly the season comes and goes. I wonder…what will the next 365 days hold for us? What scenes will unfold in our lives over the next 12 months? What will I be thinking of, hoping for, dreaming about next year as I sit quietly in front of the tree?
I am confident in tomorrow because of the One born in the manger. No matter what the days ahead bring, I am in His Hands. Peace and joy abide in my heart and home because of the Savior in the stable.
Yes, it’s nearly time to pack the manger carefully away again, but HE continues to be at my side each day of the new year. I am grateful and hope-filled.
settingmyhearttohonorhim 