Joker is a bit of a self-professed humbug when it comes to Christmas. In many ways I can understand it. He sees it as a season of excess where people most often look past what Christmas is really all about.
On the other hand, I see it as a celebration! A celebration of Jesus’s birth and the beginning of new life for us all. And I would decorate whether I was the only one in the house or not… lights outside and small trees inside.
There were no decorations last year for our first Christmas together. We hadn’t been at the house since October and our Christmas was spent on the road in an impromptu trip to surprise the D’s that day. We spent the day with family, sharing of ourselves… just as it should be.
As I was going through things in preparation for selling the house and living out of the camper fulltime, I packed away the things that had been gathered throughout the years to put into storage for Amy. The only other things I kept were a very small lit tree and two wreaths, thinking that perhaps I could “sneak” some small things in without objection. The clear rope lights that already line our site would do for the outside along with the wreaths on the door. And the small tree decorated with birds and gold bells would fit perfectly in the small space of our home.
I so wanted to add two small lit deer outside in between the large trees by the road, but I was certain that would go over like a lead balloon!
So imagine my surprise in the middle of Walmart when I heard my husband talk about putting lights around the camper windows. Broaching the subject of the deer met no objection. And then I heard him say that a small lit tree would look good out there with them too.
Who stole my husband???
But the smile on the face of the man standing next to me told me exactly who he was. Nobody had spirited him off in a flying saucer nor did he get lost in the hardware department. He was standing right in front of me, realizing that it had become a celebration for him too.
There will be no gifts again this year as we promised each other. There WILL be a large donation to the Food Bank so that others can be helped just as we needed the help not that long ago.
And there will be lights… reminding me daily of the True Light of the World!




