The pen in your hand is a magic wand with which you can send joy, hope, love and courage across deserts and plains, over mountains and seas, around the world and around the corner.
Wilferd A. Peterson, “The Art of Writing Letters”
In one of my classes during Bible college, we students took a “Spiritual Gifts” test to help us understand where we best fit in ministry opportunities. One of my gifts results was that I was an encourager. One of the ways I enjoy encouraging is through making and sending handmade cards. I wrote a bit about this cardmaking journey in a previous blog post, Stray Gifts Studio. I have a list of friends and family I create for regularly, but sometimes life gets busy and time is short for playing with all my pretty paper. I was determined to get nice Christmas cards out this year and worked at making cards to send out. I had come down with a bad cold a few weeks before Christmas and I wasn’t sure I would even be able to get these out in the mail. I had wanted to write a nice long ‘catching up’ note in each card, yet as Christmas grew nearer, I had to settle for a quick Christmas and New Year greeting. I hope that even with a short note, the cards sent brought a bit of joy to the receivers. Here are my latest creations in cardmaking.
He who marvels at the beauty of the world in summer will find equal cause for wonder and admiration in winter…. In winter the stars seem to have rekindled their fires, the moon achieves a fuller triumph, and the heavens wear a look of a more exalted simplicity.
John Burroughs, “The Snow-Walkers,” 1866
I have been interested in decorating for the seasons versus decorating for any holiday in particular. I do not enjoy putting things up only to take them down a few weeks later. And I am not one who likes to get out the Christmas decorations before Thanksgiving. I love arranging seasonal accents, knowing we have three months to enjoy the change of pace each phase of the year brings. This year for winter, I was inspired by the simplicity of winter light. The other day, I was looking outside our living room window at the Chinese elm tree in the front yard. The tree was bare of leaves, the bark a mix of brown and gray and the sky above was a blue-gray color. In the tree, there were finches with the same brown, gray, and blue easily seen on the branches. It was such a simple scene- devoid of the green leaves of spring and summer with just a few yellow leaves left from fall. I realized that this time of year is the only time I can see all the birds in the tree and I was struck by the clarity of the view. I stood for quite a while watching the finches happily singing away.
In keeping with a winter home decorating theme, you won’t find a lot of Christmas decorations in the house. In fact, we didn’t even put any ornaments on our tree! As Jonathan and I were unpacking the Christmas decorations and figuring out how we wanted to display them, we just loved the way the tree looked all lit up with nothing on it but tiny lights and the pinecones and berries that were on the tree when we bought it. With simplicity in mind, we were content with the way the tree looked as-is. What you will find are bits of light here and there through candles and Christmas lights in other places. What you will also see are bits of greenery from the japonica bushes that are in the front yard. Instead of buying greenery that doesn’t match our natural surroundings, I used what we had and cut fresh branches to put in a vase. The branches and leaves which stay green year-round add a natural element to our simple decor.
In the living room, we have tall ceilings with a very high shelf. We have decorated that shelf with lanterns, baskets, greenery, and other home accents. We put Christmas lights up there and I think we are going to keep them up all year. We like to plug them in at night as the sun goes down and it gives the living room a nice glow.
The longest dark hours are in winter and as the sun goes down early, my battery-operated candles light up on their timer, our Christmas lights get plugged in as well as the high living room shelf lights. We light candles and keep the bright lights off enjoying the cozy feel. It makes winter nights a bit more comforting as we settle in for the evening. All of us look forward to that time of day very much.
In the kitchen, I’ve been changing out the curtains to transition into the next season. During the fall months, I had orange, brown, and white in a tablecloth, in curtains, and in accents. For winter, I swapped out the warm colors for cool, using gray and white curtains and tablecloth with just a hint of Christmas in red and green glass bottles with a few japonica branches for more color. The bottles are displayed in the kitchen window and when the sun hits them in the afternoon, the bottles look like lanterns.
A few weeks ago, we were out late at night for an event at the local Historical Society (a 1912 historic home) where Jonathan works. John and I had stepped outside for a few minutes to get some fresh air and we happened to look up at the sky. Orion was right above us- big as life -spread across the sky and the stars were just so bright and beautiful! Later that evening, I went upstairs because I knew there would be an amazing night view of the city lights. Seeing the stars and the night lights confirmed that I wanted to bring that feeling of wonder from outside to the inside of our home.
Whether you love to go all out for decorating every holiday or you enjoy keeping it simple like me, may we all see cause for wonder and admiration in every season.
For many, the gifts are the be-all and end-all: the big screen, the tablet, the Barbie and Ken doll. For me, gifts I get are like ice in the sun. I cannot recall them. No, not even one.
How did I find a true way to remember the import of each twenty-fifth of December? The quest to acquire is an urge one can curb. The lesson I learned was: make Christmas a verb.
Knock on the door of your neighbors who deal with aging and loneliness. Bring them a meal. If you have means and you live in fine fettle, drop off some greens in that little red kettle.
Visit our vets who are hurt and express your thanks for their service as they convalesce. Deliver to others a luminous glow. The gifts you will cherish are those you bestow.
I Chronicles 16: 10-11, “Glory ye in his holy name: let the heart of them rejoice that seek the LORD. Seek the LORD and his strength, seek his face continually.”
The holidays are here along with the hustle and bustle, cleaning up after Thanksgiving leftovers, extra things on our to-do list, shopping, decorating for Christmas, and planning holiday activities. It is a lot to think about and we can quickly feel overwhelmed. We want the Christmas season to be great, but if we wear ourselves out by doing too much, we are left with no strength and are weary by the end of the holidays. Greatness in the season does not have to mean being strong for each and every activity that comes along. Strength lies in knowing when to say, “Yes” and what needs to be, “Not this year”. Either way, being able to rejoice in our hearts because we made the right decision is quite rewarding. The right use of strength is seeking God’s glory in everything.
Maybe you do have the time and energy to fit as many activities in as possible. But if you are in the camp of , “It’s been a rough year. I want to do a few fun things with family/friends/church, and the rest of the time watch Hallmark movies in my fuzzy socks and comfy pajamas sipping a peppermint mocha. I want to read a really good book tucked under a warm blanket…”, that is OK too. If you would love to have people over, but do not want complicated, homemade soup simmering in a crockpot all day and a loaf of homemade or bakery bread is one solution for a low stress get-together meal. Or invite your guests to bring their favorite ‘potluck’ dishes to share. Greatness can be found in the ordinary. After all, Jesus ministered to thousands with every-day fish and bread!
It is easy to get caught up in what everyone else is doing and feel pulled along. Peer pressure does not happen only with the young, but it also happens in our lives as busy adults. The right use of strength is doing what is best for your family, even if it means simplifying by doing less and even if it means a get-together over coffee after the holidays and hustle and bustle. Whatever choice we decide to make, let’s seek the Lord’s wisdom first and do everything in honor of Him. Bringing glory to God will not happen if we feel overpowered by activity lists and lose the wonder and magnificence of the Christmas season. When we seek His strength, we preserve our own.
“Greatness lies not in being strong, but in the right use of strength.”
In 1864, after the severe wounding of his son during the Civil War and a few years after the loss of his wife who died in an accidental fire in which he suffered burns trying to save her, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow penned the poem, “Christmas Bells”. What we know now as the song, “I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day” as a Christmas carol, is missing a few verses from Longfellow’s original poem. What once was just a nice pretty carol for me, has now so much more meaning and appreciation. “I can make no record of these days. Better leave them wrapped in silence. Perhaps someday God will give me peace”, he wrote in his journal a year after his wife died. From grief filled days wrapped in silence, to writing, ‘God is not dead, nor doth He sleep’, Longfellow put his heart into this and I encourage you to read the historical background on this carol. (The Story Behind “I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day)
Christmas Bells
“I heard the bells on Christmas Day
Their old familiar carols play,
And wild and sweet
The words repeat
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!
And thought how, as the day had come,
The belfries of all Christendom
Had rolled along
The unbroken song
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!
Till, ringing, singing on its way,
The world revolved from night to day,
A voice, a chime
A chant sublime
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!
Then from each black accursed mouth
The cannon thundered in the South,
And with the sound
The carols drowned
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!
It was as if an earthquake rent
The hearth-stones of a continent,
And made forlorn
The households born
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!
And in despair I bowed my head;
“There is no peace on earth,” I said;
“For hate is strong,
And mocks the song
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!”
Then pealed the bells more loud and deep:
“God is not dead; nor doth he sleep!
The Wrong shall fail,
The Right prevail,
With peace on earth, good-will to men!”
From grief filled days wrapped in silence to a place of peace takes time. Maybe bells of peace and good will are not tolling in your life right now, but comfort will come in our God who is not dead and who neither slumbers nor sleeps.
Psalm 121:1-5, “I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help. My help cometh from the Lord, which made heaven and earth.He will not suffer thy foot to be moved: he that keepeth thee will not slumber. Behold, he that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep.The Lord is thy keeper: the Lord is thy shade upon thy right hand.”
Let Every Day Be Christmas
by Norman Wesley Brooks, 1976
Christmas is forever, not for just one day,
for loving, sharing, giving, are not to put away
like bells and lights and tinsel, in some box upon a shelf.
The good you do for others is good you do yourself.
Peace on Earth, good will to men,
kind thoughts and words of cheer,
are things we should use often
and not just once a year.
Remember too the Christ-child, grew up to be a man;
to hide him in a cradle, is not our dear Lord’s plan.
So keep the Christmas spirit, share it with others far and near,
from week to week and month to month, throughout the entire year!
