TRADITION

 

Good morning and Christmas blessings to you!

 

I praise you for remembering me in everything 

and for holding to  the traditions just as 

I passed them on to you.

1 Corinthians 11:2

I pray you are very well this morning. Have you ever thought of the Christmas traditions that you follow every year. The Christmas tree, the lights, the decorations, the nativity, the ornaments, the shopping. All these things are reminders of our dear Savior's birth. But why do we do them? Well, you got to have a tree to hang the ornaments on and to put the tree lights on. What about the outside lights, if you put them up? And the nativity set that you put out? And all the other decorations that you put up. Or don't put up. All of us are geared different and have our own traditions. My husband always goes Christmas shopping on the 23rd or Christmas Eve day with my daughter to shop for me. This year that tradition will be broken because our daughter and son-in-law can't come home for Christmas. But that doesn't mean our Christmas should be any less. Maybe a little tinge of sadness of not being able to see them but it is still the day we celebrate Jesus's birthday. That never changes!

I put Christmas decorations in every room in the house. Yes, even the bathrooms. I love Christmas! The more decorations the better. I love the lights and the feel and the nativity I put up, that was a Christmas gift from my Dad and Step-mom many years ago. I put it up every year. I know God doesn't care if I put up Christmas stuff or not but only that I believe in Him and love Him and worship Him. But at Christmas, I guess that I want to do more for Jesus and it is the only time you can really decorate and not seem crazy. So, the more the better. I guess for me it is definitely a tradition. Most of our ornaments were given to us by someone. I have decorations that my Mom made years and years ago. I even have a gift bag that had a gift in it from my Mom and Step-dad years ago with the tag she signed still on it. I don't really use it but it is a memory from my Mom. I don't even remember what was in it. I didn't use it this year because the bag is pretty small. It was a gift she bought for me from Hawaii. She wrote that on the tag. I will probably keep the bag forever. My children will love going through all this kind of stuff when I go to heaven. To my son it will probably be garbage. My daughter, I am not so sure. But when that happens she better have a big house!

My Dad always put up lots of lights and the stand-up lighted figures so I love to do the same thing. When he moved away he gave several of them to us. Anyway, think about what you do to celebrate at Christmas and why you do it. It is fun to bring those memories to mind and think that you will do it all again next year because Jesus is the Reason for the Season.

To be honest, I’ve never really questioned why I find these things so important until now. They’re just part of what makes Christmas, Christmas. But why do they matter so much to me?

 

What about you? What Christmas traditions do you have? How do they connect you to your past—both in terms of your family and in terms of your faith? What traditions feel most comforting to you and why?

 

Think about that today as you anticipate the birthday of our Lord and Savior, Jesus the Christ Child.

He loves you so much.

Have a blessed day!

Les