Sunday December 10, 2006
I love decorating as the seasons change … pink tulips in March, hydrangeas in June or sailboats for summer, books and teddy bears in January, and acorns and leaves in September. But there is something different about getting ready for Christmas. Last Saturday I dug around in the attic and pulled out the poinsettia garland, the star-shaped candle holders, and the tiny crystal nativity set. I was arranging things on the mantle when I felt that same quiet awe. I love the way Christmas seems like a sparkling diamond in the middle of drab, barren sticks and nearly endless cold days and nights. I love the way it makes people sing and smile. I love walking into a store to hear music playing that reminds us of Jesus. I love thinking of being together with family … laughing and talking and celebrating being together in so many ways when we are often so far apart. I love hearing the Christmas story again and I wonder. I wonder how the scene played out in heaven before Jesus came and what it was like to be God and man at the same time. I wonder how it felt to be Mary, to know that you were mother to God’s own son. Even now, it’s easy to get caught up in “being the perfect mommy” or in making life as perfect for our children as possible (from keeping the house quiet when they nap to overdoses of quality time and reassurance and cuddling) when the truth is they need to learn to cope with real life too. I wonder what Mary did with those feelings when she saw she would give birth in a stable … when she needed to make the long, unpleasant trip to Egypt … when her son got lost. I wish I could know her because I think knowing her heart would show me a lot about God and about being the kind of mommy God wants us to be. There had to be some incredible reasons why she was the one, out of generations of Jewish women, to find favor in God’s sight.
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We are at an incredibly exciting stage with our house! The drywall finishers are hoping to be finished by the end of this week. It is so much fun to finally see progress inside after struggling away with the exterior all summer. David Lee is hoping to wrap up most of what needs to be done outside NOW in the next two to three weekends so that he can start thinking about trim and flooring. I can hardly wait to get my hands on a paint brush and start splashing color on the walls!
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My sister, Christy, is coming on Tuesday and staying until after Christmas which is even more exciting than the house news! We have our days already filled with fun things to do and in between we’re just going to talk and laugh and do everything together that we always have to do apart. I find it amazing that we can stay so connected even though she lives in TX … we talk a lot and email pictures of what we’re doing so when we get together, it sometimes feels as though we’ve never been apart. Now, as we used to say when we were little girls, we just have to sleep TWO more times before Christy comes!