Prepare Ye the Way to Christmas

 

Many years ago I was pushing a blond-headed, blue-eyed baby boy through the department store when I overheard a little girl ask her mother, "Mommy, how much longer until Christmas gets here?" The mother, overwhelmed with the shopping task at hand, began to lament the expense and commercialism and over-zealous expectation of Christmas to the little sprite in her shopping cart. The little girl was drawn into her mother's grown-up version of disillusion and disenchantment as her mother ended her tirade with "Christmas comes way too soon, if you ask me!"

I lifted my son's drooling chin and allowed him to slurp on my finger rather than the shopping buggy's germ-infested handlebar; and I made a commitment to myself never to speak disgruntling of Christmas to him, never to be disillusioned by the expense and commercialism, and never to become disenchanted by over-zealous expectations. Each year I would remind myself and my child that Christmas was really just a baby and a family wrapped in the soft heavenly glow of starlight.

Many Christmases have passed since that new mother made that resolve to herself. Many Christmas dinners have been eaten, many presents have been bought and wrapped, and more babies have been added to the Christmas photo greeting. Many times I have faltered (and sometimes failed) in my resolve. This Christmas that little blond-haired, blue-eyed baby boy is a twenty-five year old, six-foot-three-inch married man with darker hair and hazel eyes. In Christmases past, my husband and I have gone overboard on gifts, have shaken our heads over the commercialism, have worried about the expense, and have faced the disillusionment and disenchantment head-on.

This year we have every reason to refocus and recommit to that original resolve. We have our first grandchild to gaze upon Christmas day.

It is time to remind ourselves and our children that Christmas really is just a baby and a family wrapped in the soft heavenly glow of starlight.

Christmas is not what the world makes of it, but what we make of it.

~ Taken from Christmas Mosaic, copyright (c) 2007, published by Hillside Education

{order now to have in time for the Advent / Christmas season:
           Advent Week One: Decoration and Preparation Stories
           Advent Week Two: Giving/ St. Nicholas/ Santa Claus
           Advent Week Three: Family Time/ Hanukkah as Jesus Would Celebrate
           Advent Week Four: Nativity/ Epiphany/ Angels

Supplements: Let it Snow Mosaic
                       Recipes
                       Coloring Pages
                       Reflections
                       Legends
                       24 Days Before Christmas Countdown (pg. 69-71)
                       Poetry
                       Picture Books that Teach, Sing, Worship, Share, Pray