INSPIRASUNS

When I was growing up we didn’t have much, but at Christmas, my mom always tried to make things a little more special. I remember we had an artificial tree, and in its day, it was pretty cool. Back then of course you didn’t just whip it out of the box and watch the pre-lit branches fall into place like some artificial trees do today. No, when I was little you had this pile of fake branches with heavy-duty pointy wires on the end that you literally stuffed into slanted holes on a round base. It was always like putting a puzzle together to figure out which branches went where and there were some years the tree was a little out of sorts, 🙂 .

Once you got the branches in place, or where you thought they were supposed to go anyway, out came the lights. Not these fancy twinkly lights like today, (can you believe the different types of lights you can buy today, big, small, battery operated, on a timer, icicle, OY, sorry digression again), no these were huge bulbs, and like only four colors, red, green, yellow, and blue. We took what seemed like hours to put those things on.

Then the garland, it was the thin silver stuff, not the big puffy garland you see today, or the stylish beaded versions or the custom-made beauties, no we had the silver stuff that was used year after year until you could see the string in the center 🙂 . The ornaments, well, I don’t really recall too many details about those. I know I made a few, but again nothing special really. And of course…there was the tinsel. Remember that stuff that you’d pull out of the box and literally stand back and throw it onto the tree. Ya, my older brother and I had some fun with that stuff. There would be clumps of it on parts of the tree and mom would always go around and fix it after we’d gone to bed.

The top of the tree, again, initially I don’t really recall what we put there, I think it was a star, but I’m just not remembering. What’s that tell ya…

Well, one year, I think I may have been in third or fourth grade, I came home from school with this little angel I had painted. We made these for Christmas, to put on top of our trees. Now, I was not and will never be an artistic person, but I was so proud of my little angel. When mom got home, she was too, and up onto the tree, it went. From that year forward, my little angel always made her way to the top of whatever tree we had.

I still have my little angel, she’s gone through many moves, and she’s had a few mishaps, but she’s still with us. I wasn’t going to set her out this year, (her star and wing tip are damaged and she doesn’t look like she did), but my husband pulled her out of the box the weekend we decorated and asked, “why aren’t you setting her out?”, as he placed her gently on a cabinet in our living room.

Last night as I walked by that cabinet I noticed my little angel. I picked her up and smiled and the memories of my childhood Christmas’ came flooding back. Memories of my mom were so vivid, and I got kind of emotional. It’s funny how little things like this can bring back such clear memories. I think that’s Father’s way of helping us remember how blessed we are. Even though we may not have much, we have each other and that is one of our greatest gifts.

If you have those special pieces from Christmas’ past, treasure and enjoy them. Have a wonderful day my friends.

Luke 2:13-14
And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!”