Christmas Decorations

Good morning, Five Minute Families. We are glad to be back with you today. Life is short, and there are often reminders around us that we should take the risks that are holding us back, demonstrate our love as big as we feel inside, and forgive ourselves and others - all to live the abundant life Christ calls us into. Our lives are often marked by festivities and ceremonies - birthdays, graduations, funerals, and holidays - to name a few. Some people go all out for these ceremonies while other people are too overwhelmed with the weight of the moment - whether a good or bad moment - to even think of the ceremony aspect. Kind of a deep beginning… but what are we really discussing today… Christmas decorations! Why decorations after such an opening? Well, as someone who has struggled with mild anxiety and depression, especially around the holidays, Christmas decorations have come to mean way more than just simple décor for me. My quickness in putting up decorations is often indicative of what is happening in my head and heart. Now, in full disclosure, we have zero - that’s right - zero decorations out right now, but this year it is due to construction projects and time, not emotions. Whether you are a November 1, day after Thanksgiving, Christmas Eve, or ‘somewhere random’ decorating type of person, decorations are part of the ceremony of the celebration of Christmas. Decorations can bring smiles to saddened faces, and they can work to draw a family closer - if we allow them to. Of course, the stress of breakables, getting the tree just right, placement of knick-knacks, and more can divide us if we allow them, but a five-minute family knows that five minutes as a start can be the difference in connection or isolation. Let’s face it, in most households, the bulk of the decorating can fall on mama. That - in and of itself - can be so isolating. Though, of course, there are those folks who want to do all the decorating themselves. So, as long as you aren’t one of the ‘let me do it all myself’ folks, how do we incorpo