7 December
This year no West Kirk Christmas market, no Riverside Senior Citizen’s lunch, so we put the tree up on Saturday, somewhat earlier than usual. We have eclectic mix of decorations – made at nursery, things that came from Christmas crackers, made or given by friends etc. For a number of years we have used them to ‘tell the story’ behind Christmas. A star made at Sunday School a very long time ago with ‘For God so loved the world..’ goes at the top. Beneath that come the stars and the angels, then the baubles/planets, then the Christmas trees and teddy bears representing the flora and fauna of Planet Earth, and at the base things that represent toys and gifts. For some reason we have an apple and a woman in red, so they go beside the nativity scene. For a long time we’ve had baubles that could take thumbnail pictures, but we never did anything about putting the thumbnails in. This year we’ve put in photos of family, so that even if we don’t see them over the five-day break, they are still part of our Christmas celebrations.
(PS I’m not telling mother-in-law that she’s replaced the fairy on the Christmas tree!)
Lord, thank you for the ‘lift’ that lights and decorations can make to our spirits in the dark days of December. Thank you for the story behind Christmas celebrations. Thank you for family, friends, and memories
Photo: last week ‘we’ were in St Andrew’s. Today’s photo shows a different time of the year – snow on the East Sands, and some ice in the harbour
