Holidays

It's officially Christmas season in our home. We decorated the inside yesterday. We'll hope to do the outside this week-end. The electrician is coming Friday because the outside plugs trip the circuit. Hopefully it will be a simple fix.

So, yesterday we brought all in from the garage & transformed the living room & to a small extent the family room. It was the first time in a very, very long time that no grandchildren were here to enjoy Grandpa's toys, marvel over the nativity scenes, treasure the ornaments of various sizes & ages & of course try to sneak past the watch tree outside without triggering it. Grandpa has a motion & sound activated little tree that sings when you approach. Many a delivery person has almost dropped the package when the tree startled them with loud Christmas music. The game is to tip toe in various patterns to try to avoid setting it off. Occasionally the feat is achieved.

The house looks like Christmas. Some of the joy is not infused into it because the transformation was made just by us. It reminds me that whatever it is, it is not just it, it is the spirit of thing that is entered into. Years ago I learned that the spirit of the thing creates a new essence, & by entering into the spirit of the thing a new experience is created.

For example, if we go to a symphony & spend the time criticizing the way the individual orchestra members look, focusing on the faults, etc. we miss the spirit of the music. But, if we enter into the spirit of the music, we are transported, moved, lifted & restored. So, 2 people could be in the same music hall & have totally different experiences. One could have little experience of the music & not be transported. The other could be immersed in the music & be transported.

While we did our best yesterday to enjoy & be with the joy of the birth of Christ, a bit (maybe a large bit) of the usual energy was absent. It was palpable. It looks the same in there, but it does not feel the same.

As my dear soul sister friend in Russia often says, "Life continues." And so it does.

My beloved heavenly Father, I ask for Your Light to fill this home & us so that we fully enter the joy of this time of year. Help us lift our eyes from that which is missing to that which is always here. Lead us to enter into the spirit of Christmas fully & without reserve. I ask this in the name of Christ & seal this with faith as I say Amen.