Prepare Him Room

Soon it will be Christmas. Time for lots of things, including memories and traditions. Most families have recollections of their holidays – some great, some not so great.

Remember the Reader’s Digest Christmas trees? You would meticulously fold all the pages, spray paint it gold, and afterwards — it looked like a really horrible gold Christmas tree.

We had a service club that would put on a Christmas program for the kids in our town and at the end would hand out 50 cent pieces in a cardboard coin holders. We actually still have our coins, as we could never take them out of the holder. Well, most of them.

Church programs with shepherds in bathrobes. Because I’m highly confident that people in the Middle East wore bathrobes while tending their flocks, because it was at night you know.

Silver or white trees with rotating color lights. As awe inspiring as lava lamps.

My grandparents had ornaments that were bubbling Christmas lights. They were awesome. One year we found a book that had Christmas tree traditions from around the world, so we created a variety of ornaments.  The one I remember was the spider web with glitter. Having a spider web on your tree apparently was a sign of good luck, so some European countries put spiders or webs on their trees.

Advent calendars with chocolate pieces behind the 25 numbers. Most years it was a time warp – the 25 days lasted about 2 days. We also had quarter calendars, putting in a quarter for each of the days leading up to Christmas. Kind of nice reminder of giving each day.

Ribbon candy. Bowl of nuts. Krumkake. Rosettes. Lefse. Hershey Kiss cookies. Sugar cookies. Egg nog. Candy canes. Divinity. Sour Cream Raisin Pie. You pick your weight gain.

We read ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas’ extensively to our kids. Still not sure what coursers are, but we did learn the names of all the reindeer. On Christmas our parents would read the birth story from Luke. I like the John version better – The Word became flesh. Let’s open presents!

Had a variety of nativity scenes over the years. One with Precious Moments. One made out of olive wood. Some simple, some complex. All probably not even close to the real place and characters surrounding the birth of Jesus.

I know that for some, Christmas is more blue than green and red. Regardless of our situation, past, memories, or traditions, my hope is that we all can all create space for Christ this year, to be open to letting every heart prepare Him room.

2 thoughts on “Prepare Him Room

  1. Your memory amazes me. I haven’t thought of Readers Digest Christmas trees in years. Thanks much for your writing and the well wishes.

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