The Christmas tree is a symbol of our love: alive, growing and evergreen.
I love Christmas movies. I watch them all year round. I can't get enough of trees lit up, of lovers finding their forever home and families coming home for the holidays. I do wish it was all less commercial, that we really did want the good times together and the home-baking more than expensive gifts. I wish we made it a time when our gratitude for Jesus gave us more determination to live in sustainable ways, to respect creation and the Earth we have been blessed with. I wish the sense of Christmas really was there all year round, that we thought more of giving and less of receiving, that are will to follow his example was more profound, more dominant in the choices we make. For me it is a time of renewal of spirit, of faith and bonds. It has the power to uplift, to raise our eyes heavenward. So, as a beloved old house in need of renovation, I think it's time we put in the work.
I love stockings by the hearth and spiced cookies upon the tree. I love indugent hot chocolates and the carolling. I could be a character in my own Christmas movie, I love all the schmaltz that much. I'm a sucker for a happy ending. I'm a sucker for stories of love. I wish we'd make it a sustainable holiday, an event respectful to creation, an event that builds loving bonds in society. I want the version on the movies to start to have more reality that simply upon the screen. I want that everyday kind of magic, that caring, that it's supposed to bring.
When my arms are the wrapping, you are the gift. So let us leave the plastic upon its cold shelf and instead find peace within ourselves this Christmas.
Christmas needs a reboot, a sort of version 2.0, where we do what we say we believe in, when we put the love of Christ into action mode.