Decorating Christmas

My sister-in-law sent me this site: http://www.storyofstuff.com/ (share this with friends and show to your children), and it just confirms my going simple this Christmas. It's a story about over-consumption, as well as a great lesson in ecology, economics, geopolitics, psychology, ethics - My simple interpretation of this is of man’s hunger for possession of material things and its waste.

Possessions may capture the heart, but they fail to nourish the soul. Our passion for material things far exceeds our compassion for others. This materialism leads to a spiritual emptiness that can't be filled by the addiction of consumerism.

You see, I’m one of those Christmas freaks. Every year, I really get crazy about Christmas: I change styles every year such as changing motifs. I make my own Christmas tree decors according to the motif that year. I start making stuff by October up to the end of November. My Christmas "things" build up through the years and so the house is cramped with either red, green and gold. It’s always a busy time for me and more often than not, instead of really enjoying the real essence of the season, I would end up burned-out and empty.

As I was browsing some entries in my journal from years ago, I found these to do lists, among others:
- Finish decorating by end of November
- Finish all handmade Christmas decors: this year’s motif: indigenous
- Make homemade Christmas gifts: this year: “sinamak”
- Bake three kinds of cakes: carrot, butter and mocha
- Write Christmas newsletter and print Christmas cards
- Finish Christmas shopping early
- Give handmade/homemade gifts to all office staff, school teachers, etc
- Bring out Christmas curtains, table runners, coasters, placemats, napkins, etc
- Buy 1500 Christmas lights (no colored lights)
- Do this….. do that….

The list is endless.

Yesterday, I was thinking of decorating the Christmas tree the simplest way so I went to the market with an impossible budget. Why impossible? Because I knew it’s never enough. But God saw me through. I went to the fabric store and bought only a couple yards of silk cloth of gold and copper. I didn’t know what to do with it until I found myself cutting the cloth in strips of 2 inches in width and made bows and connected them to make a garland. I added some glittered twigs aside from the Christmas lights. It turned out to be very, very nice. Simple. My husband even said it’s the best Christmas tree ever.

My favorite portraits of a godly woman in the Bible says, "she can laugh at the days to come," (Proverbs 31:25). She was filled with such incredible joy not because life was perfect but simply because she had decided to make laughter, peace, and true happiness the hallmark of her life. Proverbs 31:30 goes on to say this was a woman to be praised because she so reverenced God in the shrine of her heart that she knew without a doubt, He was enough.

I have decided in my heart to go simple this holiday season. I’m decorating my heart by buying less, loving much, hugging tighter, giving more, laughing harder, enjoying life and celebrating Jesus!

Indeed, Jesus is enough.

“It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.” Galatians 5:1 (NIV)

Recommended book: She can laugh at the days to come by Valerie Bell