To say I've not been in the Christmas spirit this year would be a MAJOR understatement. I've just not felt moved to do the usual decorating; even Christmas cards were a source of some serious irritation. Anyway, we'd planned to update our central AC/heat system so it didn't seem prudent to go all-out with the usual decorations and our enormous tree until after the work had been finished. Needless to say, the children weren't pleased since all the stuff starts to go up Thanksgiving Day. So we made a deal with them and settled on a 4 foot "Charlie Brown" tree instead and cut way back on the inside decorations. This seemed to appease them.
The outside stuff is Clint's turf...lights and yard art, etc. Apparently, he's suffering the same malady as me. So last Sunday, after much begging and pleading all four of us trouped outside in the cold and wind and proceeded to "do" the house only on a much less grand scale. We hung gaudy plastic ornaments and glittered snowflakes; put out the lighted tree and presents and a couple of yard flags, my personal favorite being the one that says "Jesus is the reason for the season". The children were quite pleased with themselves...hey, they were happy! Who am I to complain?
Now anyone who lives in Central Texas knows how windy it is here. Those ornaments banged constantly on the gutters and would keep me awake for hours. I sooo wanted them GONE!
Until the following Tuesday when we arrived home from school to discover ALL the ornaments and the Jesus flag had blown away...stripped off the gutters and yard stands. I couldn't help but feel like a total heel. Had I wished hard enough for all the banging to stop and this was the result? Oh, the guilt! The kids' faces were just awful. I couldn't have cared less about the ornaments, but the flag was another matter. So we dispiritedly began to pick up what we could find, which as it turned out, wasn't much.
We'd just started to make our way back inside when Paige came running from the side yard yelling "I found the sun! I found the sun!" Enter in one of those Mommy moments that don't make me proud: all I could think was "Honey, you ARE a blond". It finally occurred to me that she was clutching something and she kept yelling "I found the sun!" When she got to me and opened her hands, I could finally see what it was...our Jesus flag.
My daughter had indeed found The Son.
Here's wishing you and yours a Christmas season filled with The Son.
Merry Christmas
