Packing Up Christmas

A new year has dawned.
I remember how hard it was to write the correct year on my papers in school.
It took me weeks before my mind accepted the writing of the new year.
It took me a while to wrap my head around the passage of time.

If truth be told, I don’t have the need to write the date as much as before.
I’m not in school, with my name and date required on the top of my papers.
I’m not writing checks, since most payments are online.
The date is everywhere we look: on our phones, our laptops, and our watches.

I do know that my birth year is getting farther and farther away from the current year.
Even my adult children are realizing that about their birth year as well.
Time marches on.
Time marches swiftly on.

Remember how long it seemed you had to wait for Christmas to come?
The days moved at a snail’s pace.
As we got closer to Christmas, time seemed to stand still.
Then, quick as a flash, Christmas was here and gone.

I used to have to come up with creative ideas to keep my children busy on Christmas Eve.
I had them make place cards for the dinner table that they decorated themselves.
Their personalities shone through as they folded their designs and proudly set them down.
They made cards for their designated spot in the living room for their presents.

I still have a few of those cards tucked away.
I can tell which child made which card, even all these years later.
As an adult, the Christmas season goes by way too fast.
With so much to do and so many activities, Christmas can go by in blur if we’re not careful.

I know that many people celebrate Christmastide, which includes the twelve days of Christmas.
The twelve days of Christmas are the twelve days after Christmas.
They are the days between December 25 and January 6.
January 6 is the feast of the Epiphany, which commemorates the visit of the Magi.

Many leave their decorations up until that time, which extends Christmas a bit longer.
I love the idea of that; stillness when the hustle and the bustle are a distant memory.
There are still twelve quiet days to remember, savor, and enjoy.
However, that was not the tradition in our family.

My fourth child, my younger son, was born on January 11.
That year, the tree came down right after New Year’s Day to prepare for his birth.
As he grew, Christmas decorations did get packed away to focus on his birthday celebrations.
Now, I have a grandson whose birthday is on January 7, so January is a time to switch focus.

I have been asking myself what it means to switch focus?
It is not that Christmas and all it means is forgotten.
It is not that family birthdays take precedence over Jesus.
It is that the new year has begun and the birthdays of loved ones are celebrated.

Every year, I think that celebrating the twelve days of Christmas is something I will do.
Every year, I think that maybe I will linger a little longer.
Every year, I think that maybe the white lights of the tree will remain.
Every year, I think that perhaps I will savor the season instead of putting it away too soon.

I thought of all of this as I packed the plate away.
It is a small wooden plate that I found many years ago.
It has a quote from, A Christmas Carol, by Charles Dickens.
I will honor Christmas in my heart and try to keep it all the year.

I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. (Ephesians 3:16-19)

We may pack away our Christmas decorations after the New Year.
We may leave them up until the twelve days of Christmas are over.
When to put away the ornaments and decorations is not the most important thing.
The important thing is, Will you (will I) honor Christmas and keep it in our heart all the year?

With God’s help, we will.
Jesus Christ dwells in our heart through faith and He can never be packed away.