It's just that time of year when we're packing Christmas away, putting it all back in boxes and storing it away in attics, garages or spare rooms for another 11 months. Lounges up and down the country are looking bare and empty as walls, doors and shelves are void of tinsel, cards and Christmas ornaments.
As the twinkly lights are gone and we revel in the extra space in the house, we need to make an effort to not pack Christmas away for the year. The decorations, the tree, the fairy lights are not Christmas, and we can easily take the 'out of sight, out of mind' approach when we put away the decorations. We don't think about the wonderful message of Christmas again. Up it pops in the loft with the tree.
Our thoughts at this time are on our "resolutions" to improve ourselves, lose weight, get fit or whatever we've decided we must do this year. Now I'm not a New Year's Resolution kind of girl. I don't make them (mainly because my shiny new year very often becomes tainted with my failures in the first few weeks....or days even! This marring of my brand new year by a big fat pig out pretty much ends up setting the scene of the next few months as I mull over my continual failings. I hate this, so I decided to make a change as and when the need arose. I don't wait til new year, I start right where and when I am. I am a girl of the NOW, just like the bible calls me to be and then I fall and stumble I remember the words of CS Lewis and pick myself up again and carry on. " "No amount of falls will really undo us if we keep on picking ourselves up each time!" ~ C.S. Lewis)
Anyway, I digress somewhat. What would we say about Christmas if we were to describe it, what is the essence of the season? In addition to the Christmas nativity account, we'd say it was a season of goodwill, spreading love, being with family, enjoying time together, giving gifts, seeing loved ones, sending cards and well wishes, catching up with people.
Whatever your goals or resolutions this year, or even if you haven't set any, make a decision to unpack Christmas every day. Every day you can wake up and be kind, give an unexpected gift to someone - just because! Make a donation to charity, help someone you've never helped, smile at people as you pass them, call in on people to check how they are, send a card to an old friend telling them you're thinking of them, volunteer one weekend somewhere, be thoughtful on the roads, leave a tip at a cafe, make a gift for your loved ones......go to church and see what it's like at a different time of year! Because Christmas isn't trees and stars, or crackers and baubles, it's LOVE.
Each day we can make a decision to just be a little more kinder, a little more gracious, a little more thankful, a little more loving, a littler more humbler, a little more generous than the day before.
Don't pack Christmas away for the year, keep it in your heart and live it every day!
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