Let the stable still astonish:

By Leslie Leyland Fields

Let the stable still astonish:

Straw—dirt floor, dull eyes,

Dusty flanks of donkeys, oxen;

Crumbling, crooked walls;

No bed to carry that pain,

And then, the child,

Rag—wrapped, laid to cry

In a trough.

Who would have chosen this?

Who would have said: “Yes,

Let the God of all the heavens

And earth

Be born here, in this place”?

Who but the same God

Who stands in the darker, fouler

rooms

Of our hearts

And says, “Yes,

Let the God of Heaven and Earth

Be born here—

In this place.”

deck the halls

Deck the halls with boughs of holly, fa la la la la la la la la. Boy, that’s a lot of las. As I pondered these well-known words to this familiar tune I couldn’t help thinking about what “‘tis the season” really means.

Like ‘tis the season to be grumpy because your kids are bouncing off the walls.

Or ‘tis the season to be impatient in that long line at the store.

Or grouchy because you stayed up late making those special Christmas cookies.

Or testy because you’ve gone to four stores only to find that the gift you want for your child is sold out.

Or heartbroken watching, waiting as a loved one lies on their death bed.

Or disappointed because dog-gone-it you didn’t get the slippers you wanted from your husband who seems to screw that up every year.

Or worn out because of all the baking, and shopping, and wrapping and giving.

Or just plain tired, and, as you finish all the important things about Christmas that really didn’t make you happy, you wonder why you’re not more jolly. Why it seems that all the joy of Christmas has been sucked out of the season, leaving you feeling deflated, tired, angry, sad. ‘Tis the season to be jolly? Hmmmm, for many of us, not so much.

I thought about this season, this season of love, of giving, of cherishing and I thought to myself, ‘I could identify more with the grumpy, or tired, or busy fa la las. Really, is this what Christmas is truly all about?  Today, I was reflecting back on Thanksgiving and wondering why it is that we take two of the most important holidays, giving thanks to God and celebrating our Savior’s birth, and ruin them, absolutely ruin them by letting other stuff fill up our hearts, our souls, our lives. I can’t help but think that the Devil takes great pleasure in turning our hearts toward everything but the most important parts of these holidays.

Yes, I know what you’re thinking. ‘Oh great another lecture concerning what this season should really be about – worshipping our Lord and Savior, Jesus.’ But you know what I think God wants even more than our worship or our accolades of praise?  I think he wants our attention, our affection, our thankful hearts- peaceful and quiet and filled with his love.

Remember the story of Mary and Martha? Mary sitting at the feet of Jesus learning from him while well intentioned Martha hurried around trying to prepare a meal for her Friend.  But if you read the story you’ll realize that what Jesus really wanted from Martha was her attention. He wanted to teach her. He wanted to give her some focus, some perspective. ‘Mary has chosen what is better,’ he told Martha, ‘and it will not be taken away from her.’

What are you choosing this Christmas? The things of this world – they won’t last, but the true reason for the season, Jesus, and his love for us, will. So if your heart is feeling a little empty, a little less jolly then you’d like, take a cue from Mary. Sit at Jesus feet and let him fill you with his love. Then, no matter how you deck the halls, you’ll be doing it with just the kind of heart you long for, the kind of heart you’re meant to have – a jolly one.

crazy christmas memories

My birthday was yesterday and for the first time ever I wasn’t really excited about celebrating it. In fact, I was kind of dreading it. The question I asked myself; why? Why am I not excited to turn thirty-nine? Why am I dreading this day so much? Where was the eagerness I felt as a kid when I would literally count down the days ‘til my birthday? 

I really didn’t come to any earth-shattering conclusions, but something did occur to me. This would be the first birthday I would be celebrating without Mom. And there was one little thing, just a minor thing that I would miss in particular. Each and every birthday, Mom would call me up and sing that special birthday song. It’s amazing how such a little thing came to mean so much.

In fact, the morning of my birthday, I thought, ‘Who’s going to sing "Happy Birthday" to me this year?’ I prayed a little prayer that somehow, someone would call me up. And God didn’t disappoint. No, it wasn’t Mom, but it was still pretty good. A dear aunt of mine called late afternoon and sang to me. Not only that, she left it on my voicemail. When I played the message back, tears began to roll down my cheeks and I started to cry. I realized in that moment how precious even the simplest of traditions can be.

It’s kind of like Christmas. I don’t know about you, but I have all kinds of special memories about this holiday and the traditions we celebrated year after year. If I listed all of the special things we did as a family to celebrate, I could type for hours. But I won’t bore you with the details. Okay, well, maybe just a few of them.

Let’s start with Christmas Eve. On that magical night, my family and I would pile into the car and drive to church where us kids performed our Sunday School Program. I remember that the church was always packed, and I was bursting with excitement when we performed in front of everyone. After the program, as we filed out, members of the congregation handed out white bags of candy and other goodies to all the kids. Then, it was back to our house to watch the “Sound of Music” while Mom finished preparing our meal. Soup was usually the main course - clam chowder and broccoli cheese. Yummy!

From my earliest memories I know that we opened presents on Christmas Day, but eventually us kids petitioned to open them on Christmas Eve. After enough pestering, my parents consented and a new tradition began. After presents were opened and exulted over, we all headed to bed anxiously awaiting Christmas morn when we would open presents from Santa. It always took me a while to settle in.  Sometimes after everyone was asleep, I would sneak into the living room to see if Santa had come. Since my parents had turned off all the lights and turning them on would have given me away, I had to settle for fingering the presents and trying to figure out which one was mine.

And Christmas Day meals. Who could forget those? Prime rib, twice-baked potatoes, the traditional strawberry jello salad, broccoli slaw. Oh, it was all so good and perfect and right. And as I write this, I have to admit that part of me is sad that those traditions are a thing of the past.

But, as my dear, sweet husband reminded me the other day, I have a new family, now; two beautiful children who are excited and anxious for Christmas to come and counting down the days ‘til Santa visits our house. And I guess I’m realizing that it’s time to move into the future. While walking down memory lane can be fun, there comes a time when it’s important to create new memories –to begin new traditions that my family will cherish for years to come.