Slow Taking Down Your Christmas Decorations?

People have different ideas about putting up and taking down Christmas decorations.  When I was a child, my parents did not decorate the Christmas tree and hang the stockings until just a few days before Christmas.  Today, there seem a lot of folks put up their Christmas decorations in early November or around Thanksgiving at the latest.   Just as there are different ideas about when to put up Christmas decorations, there are also different ideas about taking down Christmas decorations.  .  A friend once shared with me that he had a relative who took down her Christmas decorations on Christmas afternoon.  Of course, there are some people that leave up Christmas lights on their home exterior all the time. 

I don’t know what Miss Manners or Amy Vanderbilt would say about what is the socially acceptable practice of putting up and taking down Christmas decorations, but I do know this: Christmas in its purest form is about the birth of Christ Jesus.  Followers of Christ Jesus should feel no hurry to take down their Christmas decorations as the “twelve days of Christmas” stretch from December 25 to January 6.  January 6 is known as the day of Epiphany for church tradition has it that it took 12 days for the wise men to reach Bethlehem and the Christ child once they saw the “star of Bethlehem”.  So, if you still have your Christmas decorations up or just put them away till another Christmas season comes along, do not despair.  If your   neighbors have been looking at you with a frown because the Christmas lights are still in your yard,  hold your head up high.  You are not a proscrasinator, but are simply still celebrating the birth of the King of Kings, Lord of Lords. 

When my daughter Ginger was young, it seemed that we celebrated her birthday for weeks.  I used to tell her that she did not have a birth-day, but a birth-month.   Isn’t the birth of the One who saved us from our sins and rose from the dead on the third day worth a celebration that lasts for a while?   Have a joy-filled week.  --  Pastor Randy Wall

Prayer:   O God, Christmas Day is over, but still we celebrate the goodness and glory that the Word made flesh, Jesus Christ, came among us and saved us from our sins.  Thank you for Christmas.  Amen.