It's Not All Gold That Glitters

I have spent the last five hours painstakingly removing the lights from my previously "pre-lit" Christmas tree. We had a good run, my lovely skinny tree and me. But, all good things must come to an end and it's not all gold that glitters (or burned out Christmas lights for that matter!). It was a wonderful idea at the time, this tree of mine. Pre-lit...what a glorious revelation. No more untangling lights and lassoing them around the tree. It was glorious. Until...one by one the bulbs blew darkening each strand. The last couple years, I just slapped another strand over the "dead" strand. But, this year, all the lights grew dim.

This led to the decision that stole an entire day of my Christmas break. The old lights had to go. When I began this project, I didn't know that each strand was wrapped and attached with a bracket around every single branch of my seven-and-a-half foot tree. So, while I sat for five hours knee-deep in fake pine needles and cut-up strands of Christmas lights, I had plenty of time to reflect on this year's celebration of our Savior's birth.

It has been a lovely time of celebrating and the memories brought a smile to my face (which was really helpful, since I started to think I might hurt someone about two hours into this Christmas tree debacle). We spent Christmas Eve at church singing and focusing on the birth of Jesus. After church, we shared laughs and yummy food at Tim's mom's house. There were other times with Tim's dad and Sarah...my brother and Megan, Tim's grandmothers and aunts. Lots of laughs and lots and lots of yummy food!

But Christmas morning...that was something. I had a nasty bout of bronchitis that made breathing difficult. Preparing Christmas dinners had to be arranged around breathing treatments (something I had given to my kids often in the past sixteen years, but never experienced myself!)

We had purchased a Wii for our children among other gifts. But that was THE big surprise. When they opened it, they were excited and surprised. We took out all the parts and Timothy set them up. We laughed as we designed each character to look like members of our family! Then, when the kids inserted the game that came with the system, it just displayed this error sign. Everything we did...following directions, troubleshooting, etc....the error sign filled the screen. They couldn't play the game on this brand new system!

Next...I burned the cinnamon rolls. They were just the Pillsbury kind, even...nothing great. But, I burned them. Disappointment swept in and I went into the garage for a minute, feeling the frustration rise. Then, it hit me how silly it would be to allow these little things to steal my joy. So, Christmas morning wasn't perfect. So, the game didn't work. We could take it back the next day and get one that worked correctly. So, I burned the cinnamon rolls. There was a plethora of delicious food awaiting our senses and filling my kitchen. So...the things of this world didn't satisfy us. So what?

I walked into the front room, and my kids said, "Mom...thanks so much for the Wii. It will be so fun to play tomorrow! What a great surprise!"

My husband hugged me and said the cinnamon rolls were fine.

They hadn't let these little things steal their joy. And, I wasn't going to either! These were little things compared to the suffering in this world...little, trivial, not-even-worth-mentioning things. They didn't change the reason for our celebration. Jesus came to save us. He came! And He has blessed us greatly with a beautiful family, amazing friends, and love and grace overflowing in our lives.

I did exchange the Wii for one that works the day after Christmas...and it IS way fun! But, it's not nearly as much of a blessing as it has been just to share this precious time with my sweet family. I just love these people...and I can't believe that God has given us to one another to walk through this life with. And...He has given us a Savior who even now prepares a place in eternity for us. What could be better than that?