And just like that...
Happy New Year! Just like that, Christmas comes and goes. Our family had a FANTASTIC holiday season (sorry if the use of 'holiday' offends anyone -- I thought I read somewhere that technically holiday means 'holy day'...but I digress). It was full of family time, Jesus time, gifts, food, travel, and fun. And now, it's like it all never happened! Back to the everyday stuff; the house has been undecorated, the treats are all gone, and the Christmas music gets put away for another year. I have a hard time keeping all the stuff up once 01 Jan rolls around, actually. I love the seasonal things, but I'm ready for them to go away too. Our kids have been bummed about it, though. And it gets me thinking...
The thing about Christmas for me is the way it feels -- full of anticipation, wonder, joy, and love. Now that the 'season' is over, does it all have to go away? I'm interested to see how we can keep Christmas alive this year -- even this week -- as a family.
How about you all? How do you keep the spirit and feeling of the holiday alive once the tree and lights and 'stuff' has been taking down?
2 comments:
all I can say is I am struggling with this as well. Back to reality. Pastor Bob said it so well last week -- "many of us live 90-95% of our lives on the PLAIN...and it sometimes just feels so PLAIN." I'm not saying we have to have mountain-top experiences every day, but I'm not loving the "feeling" of just plodding along. I'd love to hear how others keep the Christmas "feeling". (Sarah M)
Good questions! I have similar ones but hadn't stopped to think about them. Here are some ideas that popped into my head for family time things to do to keep the Christmas "feeling":
1. Keep talking about Jesus We did a lot of that talk about baby Jesus being born before Christmas. Let's keep talking!
2. Having unscheduled time over Christmas to really enjoy our family (ie. sit down and play with the kids, their toys, etc.) was precious. Once school started again, that "unscheduled" time seems gone. Too much to do, not enough time to do it, certainly no time to just sit and play. Maybe we (I mean, I) should schedule in that down time.
3. Actually doing things as a family, in the name of Jesus. Brent gave a bunch of good examples in his blog. (Compassion International, making an egg casserole for the homeless, etc.)
4. I think I'll ask family members tonight at dinner what they think we could do to keep that joyful, giving, hopeful, anticipating feeling alive. (It could be interesting to see what a 5 and 7 year old think--if they have an opinion!)
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