Home for Christmas
The first things dug out of the closet are my Christmas quilts. I’m not even a real quilt person (I love them and have several beautiful ones, I just don’t decorate with them.) But first, the quilts. One is a quilt I started as a teen and realized quickly that quilting wasn’t my thing. Mom lovingly finished it for me years later and it’s perfect. The other is my wedding quilt. It’s a Christmas quilt with Christmas carols swirled into the stitching. It’s soft from washing and even sports a few stains, proving it’s well-loved and well-used.
There is some magic my parents wielded at Christmas that still ripples out through our family. Mom has more Christmas warmth and cheer than any one person can use, so she shared it with all of us. When I look at my Christmas décor my Mom flavors all of it, from stockings to color choices, to the music, to the stories. Christmas doesn’t feel right to me without a certain “Northern” feel any more than it would be right without a chill in the air.
This isn’t just me thanking my Mom for infusing our childhoods and adulthoods with warmth, though it is that. It’s also to point out the fact that we as homemakers may not be in charge or movers and shakers, but we wield an imperceptible power when we love our homes and the people in them. When we work we’re not just influencing our four walls, but generations to come. Step back from the details of the work and see the big picture. Humble as it is to be the washer, cooker, maid, and errand-runner, there is something else going on as we make our homes.
Christmas is the time we get to see this most subtle magic a little more clearly. That is what Christmas does! It highlights home and warmth and love!
Christmas has two sides to it:
It has the earthy side, the hustle and bustle, the silly songs, the cultural traditions, the family traditions, the food, the stories of Christmas past, the parties, gifts, lights, and age-old arguments about eggnog and fake trees, and whether Die Hard is a Christmas movie or not. (It is.)
It also has ‘deeper’ magic, as Lewis would call it, for us Christians. As Reformed Baptists, we don’t believe we’re obligated to follow liturgical calendars and we believe in the regulative principle of worship. Many of our churches don’t have special Christmas services. Christmas services aren’t a means of grace. But we do believe in worship, and Christmas hymns are some of the most magnificent hymns of worship in our hymnals. Handel’s Messiah is an amazing work of art about God fulfilling His promises. The birth of Christ was truly the turning point of grace, the Eucatastrophe, of humanity’s story.
I love walking into stores and hearing not just White Christmas, but Hark! the Herald Angels Sing. I love not just ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas, but also Luke 2. Christmas is both the twinkling lights and the deeper truth that God sent His only begotten Son into the world to live and die for us. If we are already thinking about this grace upon grace, Christmas increases into this bountiful feast of light and this almost horrific sorrow at what this babe came into the world to endure for us. Our souls should embrace a blend of both the delight and the death. We should be like Mary and keep all these things and ponder them in our hearts.
HearthKeepers, then we tend our homes.
Some of us do next to nothing traditional or even holiday-oriented while others go all in. Most of us are somewhere in-between. It’s important for each of us homemakers to intentionally think about what we can do and stay within those bounds. We need to set realistic priorities so we don’t burn ourselves out. We need to know the stage of life we’re in. If we have littles, our homes won’t look like Pinterest and they shouldn’t. The chaos of colored lights, homemade decorations, messy gingerbread and sugar cookies, and silly wrapping paper is part of the magic. If we’re empty nesters, have health issues, or tend someone with health issues, a little goes a long way. Don’t be afraid to not give homemade gifts to everyone or even to give gifts. Don’t be ashamed of smaller trees and fewer decorations. This isn’t a competition but a time to celebrate. If we have jobs beyond just our homes or project deadlines (why they always come in December, I’ll never know), keep things simple. We of all people don’t need to buy into the worldly concept of going into debt or having to do everything. The best way to enjoy, to enjoy!!! Christmas is to set realistic boundaries. The goal is celebration, not exhaustion and financial hardship.
Once we’re settled into what is realistic, the next best thing we can do to facilitate a heart of delight is to turn the whole month into a celebration. Bask, what a wonderful word, bask the whole month in family, decorations, and most of all God’s great grace showered on us. Don’t pin all expectations on one day. The poor day can’t bear the weight. All of it, from decorating to cooking, gifting, visits, singing, and snuggling under quilts is celebrating the season. (See discussion in the Holidays and HearthKeeping article.)
We’re the tenders, the warmers, the magic makers, taking our husband’s hard-earned income and turning it into scrumptious pies, painted cookies, hot punch, roast beast, garlands of greenery, strings of bright lights, stuffed stockings, and trees inside. (I love having a tree inside!) This is everyday, ordinary, deep, hobbit magic. And we are the practitioners of this art.
Christmas is a delight. Embrace it. It is a gift and a tool to warm our homes as the days grow colder, the nights longer, and hardships seem to gather in all around. Cheer isn’t just in finding the perfect gift, or a perfect Christmas card. It is embracing both the earthly, temporary, below-the-sun gifts and basking in them, while at the same time turning our small faces up to the deeper above-the-sun truth that fills us up with a lasting happiness. We can do this work because our Christ, our great warrior king, stooped down to become a man for us, his brothers!
And let the bells ring! Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, goodwill towards man!
