Christmas This Year

Christmas time is here
Happiness and cheer...
One of my favorite Christmas albums is the Charlie Brown Christmas.
I am enjoying the music of the season and the lights of the Christmas tree.
This year we have not kept up with a lot of our traditions. We used to have a special December calendar that would detail every event for the month.
We would go see Christmas lights and then go out for ice cream.
We would go to a local performance of The Messiah.
We would walk Christmas Tree Lane.
Eric and I would go out for dinner and figure out what we would be getting for the kids.
We would go caroling at a retirement home and through our neighborhood.
We would go cut down the Christmas tree and decorate it while drinking hot cocoa and listening to Big Band Christmas music.
We would go to the local Lutheran church for their Christmas Eve service.

This year the only tradition that I am keeping is taking each child out for lunch and Christmas shopping. The child gets to pick where we go for lunch (we are talking low budget fast food). I get to talk to them with no interruptions and we get to talk about what they want to buy for their chosen sibling whose name they drew out of a hat. This has always be a fun part of the season for me and the kids begged to do it again this year too.
We did put up a Christmas tree and got a few of the ornaments out but the rest is staying in boxes until next year. I really do not want to decorate this year. Next year will be different though...we will be home (this year we will be in Oregon), all of the remodel mess will be gone, and we will be a year further down the road of sorrow.

But, while the rest of the world is worried about the economy, the environment, and our government-we have hope. There is nothing but hope in the birth of Jesus. As the angel told the shepherds "Do not fear" we should do the same. We have no fear of the future because of what the birth, life, death, and resurrection means for those who are saved.
That gives a whole new meaning to Christmas.

~Heather