For our family, the Christmas season starts right after Thanksgiving. When we get home from all of our meals and celebrations, the Christmas decorations come out. This is a special year for us because it is our little extra blessing’s first Christmas. Now, this also brings about a challenge because this little lady is eleven months old and into EVERYTHING! It also doesn’t help that her sidekick, Boomer, is just as curious as she is. Our Irish Twins, as I lovingly call them, can be quite the duo. They do not need any additional temptations in their days, so this tree plan was going to have been well thought out.
The decision was made to put the tree in the front window. It’s out of their way in the dining room, but still in the overall family living area. We instructed our two oldest to hang the ornaments up anywhere they wanted, but only on the top half. I’ll admit, it isn’t the prettiest tree out there. However, sanity and safety are higher on my list of wants and needs right now.
Last night, I came downstairs from finally getting all three kids in bed and stopped to look at the tree. It does make me giggle, but something jumped out at me. I looked at this large amount of space we left at the bottom for our baby. Then, I looked up at the top of the tree at all of the glitter, paint, and lights. Boy, it is such a contrast. As I walked through the dining room, I saw the plastic baby Jesus in the Little People Nativity Scene. SPACE FOR A BABY. That thought kept going through my mind. As I prepared for bed myself, I couldn’t help but think about how our crazy looking tree could be such a visual metaphor for this holiday season. We had the sparkly, glitzy, flashy top part with all of its snowmen, reindeer, and bows. At the bottom, we had space. Space for a baby. No distractions. No flashing lights. No glitter, no bows, no junk.
My hope for this holiday season is for my family to leave space in our lives for the baby. The baby who came to earth for us at Christmas. The baby who saved us all. Our tree may not always be bare at the bottom, but I hope we always remember to leave space for the most important part of Christmas.