It's the week before Thanksgiving when I write....
A friend noticed my nativity set up on the side table in the living room… she said something about starting to get my decorations out early… but I hadn’t. When we lived in India it struck me how devoted to Ganesh the locals were… temples within walking distance of almost everyone… Ganesh on the dash of the car, Ganseh painted on the glass of our car, Ganesh on the wall…Ganesh statues everywhere. I thought about it… we might wear a cross as a necklace or some other ornament. One or two, occasionally, on the wall. Bible on the table but not everywhere… Yes, Jesus’ love is everywhere in how we talk, walk and act… that’s what we tell our children. My first driver even talked to me about God’s love of everyone and how Jesus’ teachings “made sense”.
During our Christmas in India, things felt different (ok, everything during our year in India felt different). For those of you still in temperate areas of the world – I really couldn’t wrap my head around listening to “I’m dreaming of a white Christmas” as we drove down the street in Chennai… anyway, it was a peaceful, quiet Christmas. We stayed “home” at 9 Lovely Beach Road. Santa was limited, which was very nice and cherished more. It was quiet. The “staff” couldn’t understand why we didn’t want anyone around because it was our holiday, not their holiday, that they should still work. We shared gifts with them, practical, with a special sari or clothes. I was self conscious, even though Santa was limited, that we had so much refuse. I still have that problem in general as we are such a disposable society. Disposable is equating with wasteful many times. But I digress…
As we packed away our special decorations – yes, they were the “special” ones as we had left the majority of our exuberance in storage state-side. They were a nice comforting reminder or semblance of” home” as in home in the USA. When I picked up our manger scene, I chose to not pack it… I put it in a place of prominence in the living room. Even as we moved back stateside, my crèche/manger scene is still sitting in the living room. Not on the mantle, but on the side table. Just under the reading lamp. Light for our world, a gentle reminder of the gift we all receive.
Yes, we have a cross here or there and our Bibles are used and float from table to side board to piano (huh??) to table. But the gift of His Love is celebrated on the table in the living room, every day.
My neighbor has her Christmas lights up on her house ( a full two weeks before Thanksgiving – no, they are not turned on – it’s still funny to give her a hard time!!), we retrieved all of the multitude of exuberance of the holiday from the storage unit (9 boxes worth – ugh)… we are gearing up to celebrate. We celebrate everyday as we live by example, the LOVE God gave us, through his son, Jesus Christ. But we are thrilled to set aside this time to celebrate his birthday – a birthday party to rival all birthday parties.
Enjoy and hug your loved ones… does your celebration of the season get boxed up in January or will you carry it throughout the year??
A friend noticed my nativity set up on the side table in the living room… she said something about starting to get my decorations out early… but I hadn’t. When we lived in India it struck me how devoted to Ganesh the locals were… temples within walking distance of almost everyone… Ganesh on the dash of the car, Ganseh painted on the glass of our car, Ganesh on the wall…Ganesh statues everywhere. I thought about it… we might wear a cross as a necklace or some other ornament. One or two, occasionally, on the wall. Bible on the table but not everywhere… Yes, Jesus’ love is everywhere in how we talk, walk and act… that’s what we tell our children. My first driver even talked to me about God’s love of everyone and how Jesus’ teachings “made sense”.
During our Christmas in India, things felt different (ok, everything during our year in India felt different). For those of you still in temperate areas of the world – I really couldn’t wrap my head around listening to “I’m dreaming of a white Christmas” as we drove down the street in Chennai… anyway, it was a peaceful, quiet Christmas. We stayed “home” at 9 Lovely Beach Road. Santa was limited, which was very nice and cherished more. It was quiet. The “staff” couldn’t understand why we didn’t want anyone around because it was our holiday, not their holiday, that they should still work. We shared gifts with them, practical, with a special sari or clothes. I was self conscious, even though Santa was limited, that we had so much refuse. I still have that problem in general as we are such a disposable society. Disposable is equating with wasteful many times. But I digress…
As we packed away our special decorations – yes, they were the “special” ones as we had left the majority of our exuberance in storage state-side. They were a nice comforting reminder or semblance of” home” as in home in the USA. When I picked up our manger scene, I chose to not pack it… I put it in a place of prominence in the living room. Even as we moved back stateside, my crèche/manger scene is still sitting in the living room. Not on the mantle, but on the side table. Just under the reading lamp. Light for our world, a gentle reminder of the gift we all receive.
Yes, we have a cross here or there and our Bibles are used and float from table to side board to piano (huh??) to table. But the gift of His Love is celebrated on the table in the living room, every day.
My neighbor has her Christmas lights up on her house ( a full two weeks before Thanksgiving – no, they are not turned on – it’s still funny to give her a hard time!!), we retrieved all of the multitude of exuberance of the holiday from the storage unit (9 boxes worth – ugh)… we are gearing up to celebrate. We celebrate everyday as we live by example, the LOVE God gave us, through his son, Jesus Christ. But we are thrilled to set aside this time to celebrate his birthday – a birthday party to rival all birthday parties.
Enjoy and hug your loved ones… does your celebration of the season get boxed up in January or will you carry it throughout the year??
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