When I grew up, our Christmas tree was decorated with tinsel and gigantic colored outdoor sized lights.  I LOVED STRINGING THE TINSEL ON  one strand at a time!  We had some plain colored balls, ornaments my sister and I made in the innumerable craft classes we were enrolled in and a few special ornaments my mother had managed to collect on her meager budget.  My sister and I also made paper chains, strung popcorn and cranberries and when we finished decorating the tree we thought it was simply magnificent.  Oh yeah!  And the tree was one of the really cheap, really thin "Charlie Brown" variety trees which were the only ones that we could afford.

Did I grow up feeling deprived of Christmas joy?!  Absolutely not.  Why didn’t I?  I think it was because I got to participate in the holiday, make crafts and help out.  My mother wasn’t worried about our tree being drop-dead-gorgeous or looking like a magazine spread (which there weren’t many of anyway).  She just wanted us children to have a really special holiday.

Since my girls are grown, when I ask what their special memories of Christmas are,  it’s quite interesting to note which ones made a deep impression.  One year we did a 10 foot tall Victorian pink and blue tree (mid-80’s 🙂 )  They loved that tree and we still have some of the paper ornaments from it that they enjoy.  Another year, the year that their Dad was dying from cancer, we went to Hawaii for two weeks and decided to make a Hawaiian Christmas tree by decorating sea shells and making our own ornaments.  Those ornaments have become a treasure for the both of them.  Another year I invited all of the neighborhood kids to come to an ornament making day at out house (their parents contributed $5 and I shopped wholesale so they made some spectacular ornaments!) we did a natural Christmas theme with pine cones and tartan plaid ribbons and still use those ornaments that have survived on our tree today (if we’re going with a red and green theme).  Do you see the theme here on which Christmas’ were memorable to them?  The ones they created something themselves, can look at the ornaments or decorations today and recall the memories.  There’s something about connecting with tangible objects that helps us to store lifelong memories.

Too many of us crafty or artistic types want our homes and Christmas trees to be spectacular and don’t leave room for our children to have fun and participate in the holiday.  When they hang their ornaments "in the wrong place" we move them.  The colors they pick out "don’t go together" or clash with this year’s tree theme.  We make everything perfect and leave them feeling like they don’t quite measure up.  We don’t do it intentionally, but it’s very easy to do and the wound hurts whether it was meant to be a wound or not. 

The last two years, I have turned over the Christmas tree decorating to my two girls who are still at home.  They have had so much fun doing it and I’ve had an amazingly fun time watching them!  They’ve done the tree very differently from what I would do, but it’s been fabulous nonetheless.  This year I’m even thinking about giving in on one of my biggest pet peeves…. colored lights!  I do not like colored Christmas lights, I like simple, elegant white lights.  Sooooooo, of course my children crave colored lights.  It will take everything within me to give in on this one, but I think I finally will, that is with one caveat… no blinking colored lights.  I can’t stand flashing strands of tree lights either (I can handle individually twinkling lights). 

You see, we all have our individual tastes and ways of expressing our love of the holidays.  But it’s so important to remember that we need to nurture our children so that they can deveop their own creativity, rather than make our home a showplace for outsiders. 

Have you thought about how you can involve your children (or grandchldren, or neighborhood children if you don’t have any of your own) in the holiday decorating, starting with Thanksgiving?  Can you think of some simple projects to do with them?  How about showcasing their school projects on a front entry way table if you have one?  What about having them make a wreath for your front door out of construction paper, scrapbook papers or ?  You might look in one of the many craft magazines and see if there’s some project that would be suitable for their ages and your patience level.  Then while you’re doing the project, tell them some stories about why you celebrate the holidays in a particular way, or share some special memories of the holidays you had in your youth.  These are the memoies that are stored away deep in their souls and nourish them their whole life through! 

THE PROVERB OF THE DAY: Prov 6:20-22 0 My son, keep your father’s commands and do not forsake your mother’s teaching.  Bind them upon your heart forever; fasten them around your neck.  When you walk, they will guide you; when you sleep, they will watch over you; when you awake, they will speak to you.  NIV