Decorating for Christmas

I was sitting here this morning thinking about where I would put my nativity set this year. It's been a long year and a long December so far. There are some traditions that are changing around my house and I don't think we like it very much. My kids are almost all grown up now. My youngest is busy with teenage responsibilities so our calendar is full of different concerns compared to when all three were little.

So sitting here this morning in my living room I was contemplating where Mary and Joseph and Jesus would sit this year in my house.
I don't have any decorations up yet. Oh, no! I do have my gifts done (well, almost) so that is a stress relief. It is miserably cold this week so the outside lights will probably not go up for a while either. Between church life and school my hours are full and I am content. I am content to decorate later, when I'm not so tired and not so full of responsibilities.

Until then, I had wanted to put up my nativity though. And this was the "Ah hah" moment this morning. I could put it up on my piano and just rearrange what I have there. What was I thinking?! I always make a special place for the nativity. It is a the central part of Christmas and I want to show that in my decorating...that's when it dawned on me. In all actuality the Good News brought to all men shouldn't be just crammed with all the rest of my "stuff" of my life, but neither should it be compartmentalized.

I do need to rearrange my life for the nativity like I need to rearrange my house to decorate for Christmas...but it shouldn't be for a season. It should be for a life time.

"And they came with great haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the Babe lying in a manger. Now when they had see Him, they made widely known the saying which was told them conerning this Child. And all those who heard it marveled at thsoe things which were told them by the shepherds." Luke 2:16-18