Decorating for Christmas

If you looked at store displays, if you actually can go in, Christmas decorations start in late summer. I know some people that would even like to have their house ready for the holiday all year long. For me, I want to first recognize Thanksgiving, celebrate the day we have been given, and then decorate for Christmas.

In order to distribute responsibilities, I generally have one of my day assistants do my window lights and the other work on my tree. Therefore, my window lights were up the day before Thanksgiving, but I didn't plug them in until the holiday was complete. That way, I wasn't violating my own rule, at least not entirely.

My train tree has been my primary, if not only, Christmas decoration for many years. Mom discovered the first ornament in the late 80's and has been able to get a new ornament every year since. They are becoming hard to find and more expensive, but they keep coming. With the increase in trains, the tree has also had to get larger in response.

I used to be able to set a small, maybe two-foot, tree on my table and I would carefully put each item on the branches. It would take a fair amount of time to accomplish, but I enjoyed it. Now with limited sitting time, the task would likely take me a few days to accomplish. I also can't reach the top of my larger tree, so I now just let my caregiver decorate while I observe. I no longer participate as much, but sometimes I have to decide what is the best use of time.

After the new year has started, everything will go back into the one large box they reside in for eleven months. While I don't have decorations up all year, I do try to daily remember why we celebrate Christmas. Jesus, God's only Son, came to His creation to reconcile us to Himself, so that we may have eternal life with Him. That is something worth celebrating this week, and every day of the year.