Skip to main content

Loving Christmas

 

Christmas is one of my most favourite times of the year. I love all the decorations, taking time to choose gifts that are meaningful, the food, the excitement, the Christmas breakups (six for me this year) and the time with family. A little tip; put a small amount every week into a supermarket Christmas Club and if possible also put aside a little into a separate bank account for buying gifts so that even if you are on a low income you can still have a lovely Christmas with careful budgeting.

But of course it is not all about the decorations and presents. I never forget the meaning of Christmas even during the busiest of Christmas Days. Christina Rossetti wrote a poem in 1885 that begins with the words ‘Love came down at Christmas’ and that’s the love I feel every day but especially at Christmas.

But I digress. Now that my children and grandchildren live away and come home every second Christmas I have tended not to be quite so liberal with the decorating unless they are going to be visiting. It’s a funny thing retirement. You may have more time to prepare but somehow every year there is a little less energy. This year however, my family were coming so I decorated—but a scaled down version of previous years. Phew, pulling out boxes from storage and three hours decorating and I was ready for a shower and bed!  Then a week or so later I got to do it all again in reverse!

But what a wonderful Christmas. We had so much fun over the few days the family was here and what a privilege to spend time with those so precious little ones. I must admit that I was impressed that they waited until 7.30 am to open presents which was about the earliest Grammy could struggle out of bed. So yes, the day was very chaotic—seven adults including my ninety-three year old mother, plus three children. But everyone helped; my son did all the cooking, my daughter and daughter-in-law made desserts and did dishes and somehow everything got done when it needed to be done while my husband and I just coasted. Lovely.

As I reflected on the day later in the evening (my favourite thing to do Christmas night), I was very aware of how priceless time with family is. My wish for 2023 would be that people would realise the importance of family and be willing to swallow their pride, forgive and do all they need to do if those relationships need to be restored. God bless you each.

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Planting Seeds

  Carrying on from last week, I was wondering how I am sowing seeds. I realised that we can all sow seeds everywhere we go. I don’t go out that often actually, I don’t belong to any secular groups but I can still be responsive to the leading of the Holy Spirit. Under his leading I made a determined effort to get to know the names of all the staff at my two favourite cafés that I visit at least weekly. I ask about their families; I support where I can. My friends and I find opportunities to give them all a little gift of chocolate and a card with a verse of scripture written on it. They all know we are Christians. I guess that might be called planting seeds. I converse with the supermarket checkout operators just to have a chance to bring a blessing to them. Some of them now know I am a Christian. I can easily bring God into conversations with unsaved family members, neighbours and strangers I stop and talk to in the park—with the leading of the Holy Spirit. I do not adopt a heavy...
Post a Comment
Read more

The Importance of Unity

  What do you do when you think the Pastor or Senior Leadership Team have got it wrong! A friend was recently talking about a decision made by our Senior Leadership Team (SLT) including the Pastor. We are a small church community, so decisions affect every member there. However, unless directly involved in a programme or initiative the SLT do not know how a decision they make might impact on the on-the-ground day-to-day running of that programme or initiative. It is important to talk to those involved to get their perspective and even in a small church this might not necessarily happen. Having said that, our SLT are generally very good at consulting. So, what do you do if you think it’s an unwise decision? This will of course depend on size of the church, whether the Pastor is a good listener and is prepared to talk about it and I’m sure, many other factors. My perspective is that I do not want to be talking about the Pastor behind his back. I do not want to gossip about him ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Meeting in Fellowship

  This morning we had one of our fortnightly women’s meetings, called WOF! No, not Warrant of Fitness, although we could all do with a Warrant of Fitness from time to time to see how our spiritual walk is going. It stands for Women of Fellowship. We start with a hot drink and some home baking to eat, with some fruit for those who seek to be a little healthier. Then our leader, one of our pastors, introduces the morning. Following that there is something different each week. We have had a ‘spiritual kit’ handed to us and a discussion of each object, we had a morning to bring something special and show each other while telling the story of why it was special, there may be a speaker or a craft. This morning there was a word game and we each received a journal with encouragement to start a prayer journal. Now I am definitely not a ‘game’ or a ‘craft’ person so those times can seem a little boring to me. However, there is always good fellowship and an opportunity to get to know another ...
Post a Comment
Read more