I’m seriously thinking about decorating the house for Christmas year-round.
I’ve made little pockets of Christmas cheer here and there around the house, but there are boxes and boxes of stuff in the basement that have not seen the light of day in years — and they’re fun: Little buildings that light up like the holidays, ornaments and ornaments waiting for a tree, snowmen, angels, manger scenes, everything one thinks of when one thinks of Christmas.
I’ve been slowly unpacking it all since just before Thanksgiving, and what do you know, Christmas is four days away. And I started thinking about what Ebenezer Scrooge said after being visited by those three spirits.
“I will honour Christmas in my heart, and try to keep it all the year,” the old man said. “I will live in the Past, the Present, and the Future. The Spirits of all Three shall strive within me. I will not shut out the lessons that they teach.”
Why do we do that — consign the wonderful message of Christmas to one month between Thanksgiving and Dec. 25? Why do we not rest merry year-round and let nothing dismay us?
I would prefer every day to “remember, Christ, our Saviour was born on Christmas day to save us all from Satan’s power when we were gone astray.” O! Tidings of comfort and joy.
It only has a little to do with the tedium of completely decorating the house, then redecorating again a month later. I really suspect that keeping Christmas in my heart — and visible around the house — all the year round might be a healthier way to live.
