Christmas? Not bah humbug but humbahbug, not yet bit by the Christmasbug?… nope, me neither, until….. until my Christmas “receiving’…

I wasn’t ready, for Christmas decorating or colors. And I didn’t/don’t have to be, it still early. And yet, after a recent personal tirade about Thanksgiving colors in my life needing more time, I saw my own collapse of my curmudgeonness, it happened just tonight. And I’m not fully in, but Christmas happened, I crumbled to both the secular AND the Spiritual, yes to the cookies then to the colorful lights, then to the conifer tree, and then to the carrying down of decorations – but the lifting aspect of Christmas is the receiving of the gift of Christmas itself. Alleluia. The gift of Christmas Spirit is in itself RECEIVING it.

Let us see gifts of His Glow. Let us receive the Spirit of receiving.

Ah – the tree. The cat looked genuinely concerned with the decoration boxes, but ah that tree smells so good, that now I will add lights and I’ll be crumbling my way into Christmas more and more – for it IS a process. And Mmmmm…. it’s the gift of friendships and cookies that got me rolling today, rolling dough became rolling out decorations for church and assembly of cookie trays as a donation to a charity. Beautiful and many hands make light work. Christmas creeped in more as I started putting up snowflakes on windows, a gift from a friend that I could embrace…

We got the tree after we had gone out to dinner, celebrating my son’s new fulltime status at his job and a raise too… YAY! Driving home from the restaurant we stopped at one house which had an unbelievable amount of Christmas lights and inflatables… WOW!!! I took a selfie with Santa. OK, Christmas curmudgeon was crumbled in cheer. It’s not just that people need more time for Christmas, it’s that people need more Christmas time in Christmas spirit. I do too, and I really always need more Christmas curmudgeon CRUMBLING – a take over of my holding back.

A crumble to not Christmas GIVING but RECIEVING… OH OH OH not HoHoHo. Christmas RECEIVING is receiving Spirit. We must be realizing more that we have been gifted more moments, friends, futures, forever, and accept them.

Our openness to receiving gifts of wows and ohs. Christmas doesn’t just necessarily mean big things in little packages. But opening and receiving and appreciating that we have been gifted.

And I especially mean RECEIVING of Jesus. The Gift.

It’s a sacrifice of praise, God’s that good to give us the gift of RECEIVING Him. 

Amen