Soli Deo Gloria

The Spirit of Christmas…

I love this time of year; I love the decorations, the presents, and the excitement! All of these things flood my memories of Christmas’ past. I remember a certain Christmas in the early 70’s. My dad was not one to really go out for all the Christmas hype but for some reason this certain year he went all out! He purchased a solid white Christmas tree. He decorated the tree with little partridges and pears, and blue Christmas balls. There was not a light on the tree, but on the floor in front of the tree there was a rotating color wheel that cast different colors as they passed by the light! That had to have been weirdest tree I think I have ever experienced. You might be thinking that I could have chosen a better way to frame the sentence before this one but I cant. You did not see this tree you experienced it! It was kind of frightening, little birds and miniature pears hung in intervals. It made me want to get out a shotgun and go hunting. The color wheel just spinning and as each color passed the light the tree would take on a new look. When the blue light would illuminate, I remember getting the feeling of cold, even though the living room would be warm and temperate the casting of blue sent shivers down my spine. When the red light shown, I would get the feelings that I was in a furnace room, or hell a cold sweat would develop and I would squint my eyes! The red cast was very frightening, and gave me no warm and fuzzy Christmas feelings. The green light would bring feelings of loneliness. I would feel alone and kind of blue even though the light was green. A finally there was the orange light, when it would shine, it turned my mothers living room into a construction zone, kind of like driving in a construction zone at night and seeing the orange hue illuminating the room. I was so confused, one moment I would feel cold, the next hot, the next lonely and then on guard. I think my dad’s tree caused me to have issues! The tree must have bothered my mom also because as far as I can remember we only used that tree for a couple of years. I love Christmas memories; these memories are part of who I am! Our God did a great work before the foundations of the world was laid. He thought about me and He thought about you! He had a plan. Part of that plan was a baby born of a virgin and placed in a manger wrapped in swaddling clothes. I love to celebrate the birth of our savior. His birth brought the promise of life. Without our Lord’s birth, there would have been no ministry or Calvary. Because He lives and was born, we truly can face tomorrow. Soli Deo Gloria! I love you all <><