Over the next three weeks, I will be doing a short series on our Christmas traditions. I would also love to hear yours!
Our Christmas decorating is much like the rest of our home and year: simple. We put up a Christmas tree with some ornaments that coordinate and some that have meaning. We also put up a small Christmas village.
The kids help us decorate the big tree, but they also decorate a miniature tree of their own complete with photo ornaments of them each year and a paper chain they made themselves.
Decorating our homes for Christmas is a fun way to celebrate the season, but what does it really mean? I like to think of it as a bride adorning herself for her husband. According to Ann Voskamp, the Advent season is all about the waiting for His coming. Just as His followers waited the first time, He came. We can also be assured that His return will be as promised.
This Christmas season I encourage you to adorn yourself for Him. No, He doesn’t care if we have fancy bows and coordinated gifts under the tree. He only calls us to be His pure Bride, radiant in the beauty that He gave us through His Sacrifice.
The photo to the left was taken by one of our children this year. It marks the 14th time my husband and I have placed that particular ornament on the tree. It reads “Our First Christmas 1999.”
Jesus came that first Christmas as a Baby, and Christendom has celebrated many Christmases since. Could this be the year He returns? Are we adorned for His coming?
Peer through those twinkling lights on your tree, if you have one. A properly adorned heart will see some of the lights of Heaven in them. Those sparkling ornaments may just remind you, the Bride, of the jewels on your crown to come. And the evergreen on which it all hangs? The everlasting life we are promised in an eternity with Him.
How are you adorning your home and your heart this season?