30 Days of Thanks -- Day 16

I thank God for…Christmas decorating!!!

As most of you know, my hubby and I are MADLY in love with Christmas.

And each other.  :0)

Both of our families have traditions of putting up the Christmas tree and decorations the day AFTER Thanksgiving, so when we got married, we figured we’d follow that “rule” too.  Then one day many years ago when we were sitting around chatting, and Matt said, “You know…this is OUR house.  And you know…we really can make up our OWN rules here…if we want to.”  I remember being so shocked at first.  What?  Go against the way we’ve always done it?  I mean…I am the MASTER rule-follower.  (Just look at what I do for a living…it’s complex and crazy and lots of math, but it’s essentially “following rules”.)  Then, I got excited in a teenager I-really-want-to-do-it-but-are-we-going-to-get-in-trouble sort of way.  There I was…back in high school…sitting up on a branch of a tree fixing to jump/fall who knows how many feet into the river.  But we talked it over, and it was just too exciting NOT to do!  We RIDICULOUSLY LOVE Christmas, so why not put up our decorations whenever we get that Christmas-calling each year…to enjoy the decorations, to enjoy each other while working together, and to start our own family tradition.  :0)

Some of our friends think we are crazy, and I’m not even allowed to speak of such blatant Christmas violations to a certain brother-in-law (hee hee!), but my hubby and I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE it…and it’s that time of year again!  Yay!!!  Two weekends ago we got all our trees down from the attic and put them in their places, and this past weekend, we started DECORATING!!!  It has been SO MUCH FUN!  I love the music…I love the sparkle…and, being the sentimental goof that I am, I LOVE the memories and nostalgia behind each ornament, each song, each decoration.

And, I love my hubby for loving it too.

“Jesus, Lord at Thy birth.  Jesus, Lord at Thy birth!”

We still have more decorating to do, but “it’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas” at our house. Yay!!!

"We continually ask God to fill you with the knowledge of His will

through all the wisdom and understanding that the Spirit gives,

so that you may live a life worthy of the Lord

and please Him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work,

growing in the knowledge of God,

being strengthened with all power according to His glorious might

so that you may have great endurance and patience,

and giving joyful THANKS to the Father,

who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of His holy people

in the kingdom of light.

For He has rescued us from the dominion of darkness

and brought us into the kingdom of the Son He loves,

in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins."

--Colossians 1:9-14