It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year!

OH, YES I DID! AND YOU SHOULD TOO!

If we can't have sports (which I like), can't go to church (which I love), can't go to the movies, can't get a haircut, can't go to the gym or the mall or get my eyebrows done...what can we do? We can make it the most wonderful time of the year in a most difficult season for us all. Last week as I sat in prayer, I had a thought, if I have hope and hope comes from Christ who came to be my Savior (and yours) then I should celebrate like it is the Season of Hope. Later that day I received a text from my sister-in-law who sent me a meme suggesting to pull out the tree, make Christmas dinner, play games, etc. Later on I heard the DJ's of a Christian radio station suggest the same thing. This is when I usually take this as a sign from God (I'm kind of a Gideon) that the idea for pulling out the Christmas décor was His idea planted in my heart. So the last 2 days have been me, the tree and decorations on our house.

My neighbors must've thought I was crazy, sweating in the AZ heat in March and wondering why I was putting up these decorations. Even though we are less than a month away from Resurrection Day, it's awesome to revisit Jesus' birth, life, and death as we look forward to Easter, but more than likely will not be able to celebrate as we normally do. So why not Christmas? We rejoice at Christmas because we have HOPE. Hope was born in a manger, not just for me but for all humanity. Putting up the tree, hanging each ornament that have special meaning, ornaments from past trips, or family vacations, ornaments that bring back memories of lost dogs and children who are now teenagers.

Christmas brings hope, it brought hope, when times were just as uncertain for an ancient people. We must remember that hope and why He came. Don't just put up the tree, decorate the whole house! Listen to Christmas music (which I did and continue to do), exchange handmade gifts (the gifts under our tree were actually birthday gifts for my husband), watch Christmas movies (we watched Home Alone so far) and bake Christmas cookies. Find the joy, laughter, and HOPE that is Christmas. Filling our neighborhoods with beautiful Christmas light displays gives families something to do when everything has been shut down. Santa Claus may not be coming to town just yet, but HOPE is always with us.

If you need a reminder of the hope I'm talking about...let's take a moment to have Linus remind us.

~ Merry Christmas