For you formed my inward parts;
you knitted me together in my mother's womb.
I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.
Wonderful are your works;
my soul knows it very well.
Psalm 139:13-14
Well... that's a pretty bizarre Scripture for a post about taking down Christmas decorations and organizing the attic. Granted, it's not what you'd expect, but hang close for a little bit.
While the season of Christmas continues through Epiphany, life marches on and we are off work or out of school or have help at home on a schedule that is often beyond our control. Some of us had all the decorations down and stored away by the end of the day, December 26th. Some of us will hurry to get trees and garlands down before January 1st so we can start the new year with a clean, organized house. Some of us will take down lights and put away the Nativity sets next weekend. And some of us... well... some of us will still be eating off the Christmas dishes right on into February... or March. Maybe the last of the decorations will be down by the time the bunnies come out. Maybe.
There is really no one set time or way of un-decorating a home that is better than another. God made you exactly the way He intended to make you. Sure, we live in a fallen world and are fallen beings, but the bottom line is that He created some of us to want it DOWN as close to 12:01 AM on December 26th as possible and some of us not to care whether there's a Santa on the side table in July. Where the rubber hits the road is in whether we keep Christmas in our hearts by focusing on Jesus daily like we did during Advent, no matter where the decorations are sitting.
At some point or another most of us are going to pack up the pretties and when we do, here are a couple of ideas to make the season of celebrating Christmas 2009 a little easier.
When you pack up everything, put your Advent calendars and wreath in a separate box from the rest of the decorations.
And as you store everything away in your attic or basement or closet, make sure you put the Advent box ON TOP and if possible IN FRONT of all the other boxes. Then, no matter where you are in your Christmas preparations when December 1st rolls around, you have everything at your fingertips to start the celebration.
A little planning in the present promises big rewards for the future.
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