Leah B.
Servant of All
As I sit here really breathing for the first time in two weeks [thanks to prednisone and prayer], I am pondering my Christmas preparations: You see, I really, really do go all out every year to make the season's decor just as awesome as I possibly can. Now, I live in a small apartment. This means that the fact that I can even pull off as many decorations as I do in here without it looking cluttered or Las Vegasy is a minor Christmas miracle in and of itself. LOL!
Now, for starters, I will have you know my two-foot Christmas tree is actually harder to trim than a large one. First, you see, you have to combine different miniature lightings because they NEVER, ever put enough lights on these tiny trees. Then you have to also find a star that stands out yet doesn't overpower the little tree. My star is shiny red. It took me two hours to find this star last year on Etsy. Finally in this regard, you need to select very small ornaments but with some size and shape variety. Mine took me two, three years to get exactly how I wanted it and entailed hours of shopping and then also sewing. Yes, you read that right. I ended up having to painstakingly stitch tiny ornament hangers to velvet ornaments so they would not end up too long for these tiny branches.
Anyway, moving on from the tree, we come to my entire nutcracker collection -- traditional nutcrackers playing trumpets and drums; lady Christmas shopper nutcrackers, one wearing an ugly Christmas sweater with a wrapped present over her arm; rocking horse nutcracker; chefs in Christmas hats bearing cookie trays and holding up tiny rolling pins nutcrackers... And then there are my AnnaLee dolls. These dolls remind me of my late auntie Patti, who I dearly miss, because she used to sell them in her shop. Also I have out a large Christmas angel, a Celtic angel, a small blue angel, an all-white manger scene, a pregnant Mary riding on a donkey with Joseph, a newborn Jesus with sleeping Mary and with Joseph awake and protecting them both, and yet another small manger scene. And -- oops! I almost forgot about my two Christmas gnomes, the light brown-and white Father Christmas statuette and the "Joy to the World" hand towels in my bathroom. Also I have a large Santa on the coffee table. In addition I have an entire magnetic sticker manger Christmas scene on my refrigerator.
And now -- drumroll -- this year, I got myself two new additions: A manger scene snow globe that changes color and plays Christmas carols and a Santa-in-a-train snow globe that also lights up and plays music. I love it and am playing with it like a little kid would. Oh -- And last but not least, I have out all these battery operated Christmas candles. They are everywhere, just everywhere. [Of course none of their ten remote controls work this year, but it only adds to the holiday joy. LOL!]
But anyway, perhaps you are asking yourselves what is my point for putting all this on a prayer line? Of course you are. Okay. I will tell you: It's because I believe that holding on to Christmas for your whole life long really, really matters. It's an imperative! This is not a show-off thing at all. I mean, it took me several years to be able to buy everything I wanted but even before I had it, I made my apartment Christmasy. See, this decorating started to really matter to me after my mom died eight years ago. I didn't have her house with the Victorian Christmas tree to look at any more for one thing. I didn't have my yearly pajama gift from her either. No more of my mother's and my auntie Patti's Christmas Eve and Christmas dinners, which were legendary. All this created such a void, that, ultimately, I sought to fill it.
But back to point: It goes without saying that Christmas is first and foremost our celebration of the birth of our Lord and savior Jesus Christ. However, there's a great deal that goes along with that which is vital to our human spirits, our hearts. We need the heritage, the traditions, the family, the joy, the beauty, the innocence and the "magic." You see, when we are little, our parents hopefully have passed all of this on to us. Then when we are grown, it is up to us to keep it alive and to give these gifts to our children.
I will tell you this: I vividly remember going to see the Christmas lights with my dad when I was a little girl. It was truly a wonderland of beauty to me, and I felt so loved. I felt loved by my daddy, and I also felt loved in an even bigger way because without my realizing it, I was feeling the love of Jesus.
And now this: Over sixty years later, and I go to see the Christmas lights with my niece and her children. Three generations in that car. Last year, the best part was watching my great niece's face light up while she was looking at the display, and, "I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas," came on. She was the picture of joy. I will never forget that moment, that sense of connection. Jesus makes those moments for our babies when we go about making this holiday. I truly believe that.
And one final thought: I started out by giving you my reasons beyond celebrating Jesus's birthday why I believe we must hold on to Christmas. I want to leave you with yet another one. It is simply this: Look at what is going on all around us! Western civilization and culture is being attacked and is crumbling. Christianity is also being attacked, made a mockery of and marginalized, even taken out of being the underpinning of our laws. This desecration is going on from within some churches and also from without. And, yes, I grant that we definitely do have crass commercialization of Christmas and also excess spending connected with this holiday. But still, even given all that, we need to be careful not to throw out the baby with the bathwater. I mean, the Nutcracker Suite is from a brilliant Russian ballet. Great music! Santa Claus is based on a real person who gave all his wealth away mainly to provide doweries for women who had no chance at marriage without one. The Elf on the Shelf came from Scandinavia. That fresh, mischievous Elfie is a lot of fun and keeps these kids all excited for days on end. Good! They only get to be little once, you know. I could go on. But my point is that nearly all these Christmas traditions are European in origin and all came out of Christian countries and cultures. This means the more we keep them going, the more of a push-back against especially the Islamic takeover, but also the atheism and communism that is infesting America.
Again, Christian culture and tradition, Christian culture and customs are powerful, powerful weapons in the fight against those who seek to kill off Western civilization and our cherished Judeo-Christian heritage. For this reason alone, we shall all be wise to bake those Christmas cookies with our children and take them to see the lights. Always say, "Merry Christmas," instead of, "Happy Holidays." Read "The Night Before Christmas," after you read your Bible. Read them both even if there are no babies in your life right now. [Better still, try and borrow a baby to read them to.] See, we owe it to the world to rejoice and to hold on to Christmas with both our hands. Hold Christmas close to your hearts, my friends!
Now, for starters, I will have you know my two-foot Christmas tree is actually harder to trim than a large one. First, you see, you have to combine different miniature lightings because they NEVER, ever put enough lights on these tiny trees. Then you have to also find a star that stands out yet doesn't overpower the little tree. My star is shiny red. It took me two hours to find this star last year on Etsy. Finally in this regard, you need to select very small ornaments but with some size and shape variety. Mine took me two, three years to get exactly how I wanted it and entailed hours of shopping and then also sewing. Yes, you read that right. I ended up having to painstakingly stitch tiny ornament hangers to velvet ornaments so they would not end up too long for these tiny branches.
Anyway, moving on from the tree, we come to my entire nutcracker collection -- traditional nutcrackers playing trumpets and drums; lady Christmas shopper nutcrackers, one wearing an ugly Christmas sweater with a wrapped present over her arm; rocking horse nutcracker; chefs in Christmas hats bearing cookie trays and holding up tiny rolling pins nutcrackers... And then there are my AnnaLee dolls. These dolls remind me of my late auntie Patti, who I dearly miss, because she used to sell them in her shop. Also I have out a large Christmas angel, a Celtic angel, a small blue angel, an all-white manger scene, a pregnant Mary riding on a donkey with Joseph, a newborn Jesus with sleeping Mary and with Joseph awake and protecting them both, and yet another small manger scene. And -- oops! I almost forgot about my two Christmas gnomes, the light brown-and white Father Christmas statuette and the "Joy to the World" hand towels in my bathroom. Also I have a large Santa on the coffee table. In addition I have an entire magnetic sticker manger Christmas scene on my refrigerator.
And now -- drumroll -- this year, I got myself two new additions: A manger scene snow globe that changes color and plays Christmas carols and a Santa-in-a-train snow globe that also lights up and plays music. I love it and am playing with it like a little kid would. Oh -- And last but not least, I have out all these battery operated Christmas candles. They are everywhere, just everywhere. [Of course none of their ten remote controls work this year, but it only adds to the holiday joy. LOL!]
But anyway, perhaps you are asking yourselves what is my point for putting all this on a prayer line? Of course you are. Okay. I will tell you: It's because I believe that holding on to Christmas for your whole life long really, really matters. It's an imperative! This is not a show-off thing at all. I mean, it took me several years to be able to buy everything I wanted but even before I had it, I made my apartment Christmasy. See, this decorating started to really matter to me after my mom died eight years ago. I didn't have her house with the Victorian Christmas tree to look at any more for one thing. I didn't have my yearly pajama gift from her either. No more of my mother's and my auntie Patti's Christmas Eve and Christmas dinners, which were legendary. All this created such a void, that, ultimately, I sought to fill it.
But back to point: It goes without saying that Christmas is first and foremost our celebration of the birth of our Lord and savior Jesus Christ. However, there's a great deal that goes along with that which is vital to our human spirits, our hearts. We need the heritage, the traditions, the family, the joy, the beauty, the innocence and the "magic." You see, when we are little, our parents hopefully have passed all of this on to us. Then when we are grown, it is up to us to keep it alive and to give these gifts to our children.
I will tell you this: I vividly remember going to see the Christmas lights with my dad when I was a little girl. It was truly a wonderland of beauty to me, and I felt so loved. I felt loved by my daddy, and I also felt loved in an even bigger way because without my realizing it, I was feeling the love of Jesus.
And now this: Over sixty years later, and I go to see the Christmas lights with my niece and her children. Three generations in that car. Last year, the best part was watching my great niece's face light up while she was looking at the display, and, "I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas," came on. She was the picture of joy. I will never forget that moment, that sense of connection. Jesus makes those moments for our babies when we go about making this holiday. I truly believe that.
And one final thought: I started out by giving you my reasons beyond celebrating Jesus's birthday why I believe we must hold on to Christmas. I want to leave you with yet another one. It is simply this: Look at what is going on all around us! Western civilization and culture is being attacked and is crumbling. Christianity is also being attacked, made a mockery of and marginalized, even taken out of being the underpinning of our laws. This desecration is going on from within some churches and also from without. And, yes, I grant that we definitely do have crass commercialization of Christmas and also excess spending connected with this holiday. But still, even given all that, we need to be careful not to throw out the baby with the bathwater. I mean, the Nutcracker Suite is from a brilliant Russian ballet. Great music! Santa Claus is based on a real person who gave all his wealth away mainly to provide doweries for women who had no chance at marriage without one. The Elf on the Shelf came from Scandinavia. That fresh, mischievous Elfie is a lot of fun and keeps these kids all excited for days on end. Good! They only get to be little once, you know. I could go on. But my point is that nearly all these Christmas traditions are European in origin and all came out of Christian countries and cultures. This means the more we keep them going, the more of a push-back against especially the Islamic takeover, but also the atheism and communism that is infesting America.
Again, Christian culture and tradition, Christian culture and customs are powerful, powerful weapons in the fight against those who seek to kill off Western civilization and our cherished Judeo-Christian heritage. For this reason alone, we shall all be wise to bake those Christmas cookies with our children and take them to see the lights. Always say, "Merry Christmas," instead of, "Happy Holidays." Read "The Night Before Christmas," after you read your Bible. Read them both even if there are no babies in your life right now. [Better still, try and borrow a baby to read them to.] See, we owe it to the world to rejoice and to hold on to Christmas with both our hands. Hold Christmas close to your hearts, my friends!
