Holiday Decorations

One of my all time favorite comic strips was an old Funky Winkerbean. A police officer is at the door telling the man of the house, "I'm going to have to give you a citation for having your holiday decorations up so late." In the picture you can see the Christmas tree in the back ground. (Note the strip was published around mid January.) The man replies, "But officer, we're going to take the tree down this weekend, I promise." The officer replies, "I'm not talking about the Christmas tree". The next panel zooms out and on the porch you can see a very dilapidated Jack-O-Lantern.

Today, February 1, 2008 I finally took down our Christmas Tree. Evelyn took the decorations off earlier this week. Though it is true, we have both been busy, and maybe it didn't seem to be a priority, perhaps our procrastination goes much deeper. This was our first Christmas as empty nester's. The holidays were not bad. How can it be bad to take time to remember the birth of the Saviour of the world? They were, however different for both of us. We spent time with both of the kids and had a blast with them. But there were no toys under our tree this year. When did that come to a halt? There were fewer presents and fewer jokes about peeking and snooping. There was less activity around the tree, fewer "oohs" and "ahs".

One thing was in abundance. There was reflection and a lot of it. We did take time to remember Christ, the babe born in a manger to a virgin named Mary. We remembered the ride to Bethlehem and the no vacancy declaration of the inn keeper. We remembered the shepherds being the first to hear the great news from Heavenly hosts of His arrival, and the wise men who sought him.

We also reflected on our own little sheep, shepherds, Mary & Joseph, and a multitude of other characters played by our Steven and Stephanie in Christmas plays over the years.

Somehow, packing the tree back in it's box to be stored for another Christmas seemed to proclaim, "It's okay to be empty nester's. We made it through." Deep down inside, I'm not sure I did make it through... yet.

Last night we watched the movie, "The Game Plan." It is an excellent movie with strong fathering encouragement. I highly recommend this movie. Keep a box of tissues handy.

Thus this blog today. We will make it. It is okay to be an empty nester. It is okay to put the Christmas tree in the box for another year. It is okay to move on to Valentine's day with my sweetheart.