But there was no room...

Edna Ferber said "Christmas isn’t a season, it’s a feeling."  I agree with her. I love Christmas and the feelings that come with it. Celebration, anticipation, joy, detachment from realities of life, even if it's for a 2 hour Christmas movie escape.  Sure, who doesn’t love to open something, but it’s just not about that anymore. This year I noticed I have WAY too many Santa ornaments and not enough mangers, Holy Family, and especially the Baby Jesus. That’s what it’s about. Focusing on that is so difficult with the TV on, the mail—yes the mail, never mind the mall, the sales, and the traffic. Everywhere you go there is mayhem!

This year I want to make room for Him. It’s a paradox, 2000 years ago there was no room in the Inn, and now, in my life, and in how many others, we are completly caught up in the commercialism and the hassle and bustle and there is still no room for Jesus. We must make room for the author and finisher of our faith. Case in point... 

In all the decorating of the tree, sorting all the ornaments, deciding where to hang what and how high or low, the children remember the reason for the season.  The one decoration my kids never leave out, forget or discard, after all these years is this Sunday School Craft we made a few years ago. The baby Jesus wrapped in swaddling "construction paper" lying on a bed of hay.  Is that the sweetest thing?  Happy Birthday Baby Jesus and thanks for coming into the world to redeem us.