It took me a while to get into the Christmas spirit this year. I just didn’t feel like digging out the artificial tree and some decorations. Our kids don’t come to our house over the holidays—we go down to Lincoln, Nebraska to visit all of them. It didn’t feel like it was even worth it.
I waffled back and forth for a couple of weeks. Should I or shouldn’t I? After I mentioned it at church, a friend encouraged me to put up our tree. And then she asked me about it every time I saw her. That was motivating. I didn’t want to disappoint my friend, and I also knew that we would enjoy the decorations once they were up.
So on Monday I hauled the boxes up from the basement and set the tree up. The lights went up on Tuesday, and by Wednesday I could send a picture of our tree to my friend. Mission accomplished!
I did enjoy hanging up each ornament. Many of them have sentimental value and I could remember the friends who gave them to us, or which ones our kids or another relative had made.
I hung a “Noel” decoration on the front door, and then I found a place for other decorations, like my three Santa mice.
The gold angel and miniature Christmas tree and manger scene went on the piano.
And I really enjoyed unwrapping each piece of the beautiful nativity scene my grandma gave me one year. It reminded me of the reason for this special season. It’s the birth of Jesus. How could I not want to celebrate that?
I’m glad I spent some time decorating, even though I felt like I had tons of other things to do. It’s part of the holidays, and I wouldn’t want to miss it.
Christmas is less than a week away. There’s still plenty to do, but my heart is full of the love that we feel at this time of year. I’m resting in the love God has for me. He loves me so much…he sent his Son to this world to live and die just for me. Because God loves me, I can love others, and I’ll try to do that as we celebrate Christmas very soon.
I’m glad my friend urged me to decorate. I’m finally getting into the spirit of Christmas!
“For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the greatness of his government and peace there will be no end. He will reign on David’s throne and over his kingdom, establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever. The zeal of the LORD Almighty will accomplish this.” (Isaiah 9:6–7 NIV)
Are you in the spirit of Christmas yet? What are you waiting for? Here’s your friendly reminder to do something “Christmasy” in the next few days. You’ll be glad you did. How can focusing on God help you get into the Christmas spirit?
P.S. – Come back next week if you want to see a family picture and a Christmas letter. I plan to do that while we’re down visiting the kids if I can get everyone to sit still for a few minutes for a photo. You can sign up to get an email reminder with the form on the side – or if that doesn’t work, send your email address to me at robyn @ robynmulder.com and I’ll add it manually.