Keeping Christmas

By now, maybe you've taken down your Christmas tree. I know there are organized people who promptly pull out their Christmas decor the day after Thanksgiving and then pack it away on the day after Christmas.

I'm not one of those people.

But, even after several weeks of twinkling lights decorating the living room, I'm never quite ready to give up the multicolored dreamland.

I'm never quite ready to pack away the angel tree topper ...

... or turn off the light on the Noel that decorates my piano during the holidays.

Even as a child, I remember the letdown after Christmas. It didn't have anything to do with whether I'd gotten everything on my wish list. It was just that slight feeling of melancholy, a sadness at saying goodbye to that "hap-happiest season of all," as the song goes.

It's the most wonderful time of the year
With the kids jingle-belling
And everyone telling you
Be of good cheer
It's the most wonderful time of the year

It's the hap-happiest season of all
With those holiday greetings
And great happy meetings
When friends come to call
It's the hap-happiest season of all

But, even as I haul the boxes of decorations to the basement, I need to remember not to let go of the spirit of Christmas. Even if I must take down the twinkle of lights in my living room, I can let the Light of the World continue to shine in my heart, mind and soul as we enter a new year.
"For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace."

Isaiah 9:6

So how do we keep that Light when the world seems like a very dark place some days? A couple of my Facebook friends have recently posted a link showing a Gratitude Jar.

This January, as we look back and keep Christmas in our hearts, maybe these gratitude notes would help us to look ahead and look all around us to recognize the good that happens and the blessings that God provides each and every day. 

Then, next New Year's Eve, we could look back on all those blessings and pour them out, giving thanks all over again. 

Will you join me? 

***

One these cold days of January, some stick-to-your-ribs pasta dishes may have your family giving thanks.

 Try this Nacho Pasta Bake

Serve the Lasagna Soup with toasted, cheesy French bread for a hearty meal.

Or serve this hearty Lasagna Soup.

Ordinary Baby

A stained glass window at Lindsborg's Messiah Evangelical Lutheran Church

Light filters through the jewel-toned glass, casting colorful shadows on the walls, floors and pew cushions. Light makes the scene come to life, as the angel hovers over the shepherds and tells them the Good News: 

⁸ Now there were in the same country shepherds living out in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night. ⁹ And behold, an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were greatly afraid. ¹⁰ Then the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be to all people. ¹¹ For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. ¹² And this will be the sign to you: You will find a Babe wrapped in swaddling cloths, lying in a manger.” ¹³ And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying: ¹⁴ “Glory to God in the highest, And on earth peace, goodwill toward men!”

 Luke 2: 8-14

I have heard those words every Christmas season for my entire life. I've been in many churches where the scene with angels and shepherds is beautifully depicted in stained glass. Each year, we add the delicate porcelain shepherds to the Nativity set, along with the pristine cows, sheep and donkey.

But this year, I've thought about the story in a slightly different way. Last month, Lovely Branches Ministries completed a Bible study called A Savior Is Born, which used video messages from Pete Briscoe.

In Bible times, he reminds us, the shepherds weren't society's elite. In today's society, Briscoe says, the shepherds would have more in common with homeless people than with CEOs. God chose shepherds - not the chief priests or elders - to hear the Good News first. 

The shepherds were dirty and smelly. It was the nature of their job. They didn't get to go home for a hot shower and meal every night. They were out among their sheep, keeping them safe from predators and rounding up ones who strayed away from the group. They sweated and got dirty as they walked miles and miles to find the best places for fresh water and green pastures for their sheep.

Just as the Bible study ended, my husband told me that a neighbor had baby lambs at his farm. So we drove over to look for a look and found our neighbor in the corral, wearing overalls and working the baby lambs. His boots were caked with manure. His hands were dirty, and his brow was sweaty on the unseasonably warm fall day.  And, I again thought about the shepherds.

As I stood on the outside of the fence and looked at the babies and the ewes, it was easy for me to think that this modern-day shepherd was rewarded with the cuteness quotient of his job. Of course, unlike the shepherds of ancient days, he is able to go into his house at the end of the day and clean up with a hot shower. But, while he was outside caring for those baby lambs and their mothers, it was more manure and straw than stained glass and light. 

In the evenings, he rounds up the littlest lambs and their mothers and puts them in the barn to protect them from the coyotes that would like a midnight snack. He doesn't have to lay at the gate to the pasture to protect his flock, like the shepherds of Bible times. But he does have to do his best to keep his flock safe. It means being home and being available at dusk to shepherd those most vulnerable creatures to the safety of the barn.

One of my favorite Christmas solos is called Ordinary Baby. Just some of the words are:

He was just an ordinary baby
That's the way He planned it, maybe.
Anything but common would have kept Him apart
From the children that He came to rescue
Limited to some elite few
When He was the only Child who asked to be born

And He came to us with arms wide open
Knowing how we're hurt and broken
Choosing to partake of all our joy and pain

He was just an ordinary baby
That's the way He planned it, maybe.
So that we could come to Him and not be afraid ...

He came to those dirty, smelly shepherds so long ago. He comes to imperfect and very human me. And even though my life and your life may not always be bright and shiny like stained glass, He promises to be our Good Shepherd, too. (John 10: 1-18)

Salem United Methodist Church, Newton, KS

May the true message of Christmas shine through all the busyness and the to-do lists, and may you find the Good Shepherd at the very center of your heart this holiday season. Merry Christmas from our Kansas farm to you! (Be sure and scroll to the bottom of this post for a link to some tried-and-true Christmas cookies!)

Messiah Evangelical Lutheran Church, Lindsborg

Here's one rendition of Ordinary Baby. Enjoy!

***

A few years ago, one of my friends hosted a holiday cookie exchange. It might be time to brush off that idea. Depending on how many friends or family members you invite, you can end up with a variety of cookies - without spending days upon end in the kitchen.

So please click here for a blast-from-the-past post from Lovely Branches and see how you, too, can host a cookie exchange.  There are links to lots of other cookie recipes, too. Happy Baking!