Monday, December 18, 2006

Christmas Past, 1981 (part 1)

I, Amanda, asked my mom to share one of my family's favorite Christmas stories.  So, today and tomorrow she is guest blogging here at following an unknown path.  Now, without further adieu, let my mom take you back 25 years, to the Christmas of 1981 . . .

my family in 1981

Christmastime is supposed to be a time of joy and celebration, but there was conflict in our household.  My husband and I disagreed for most of our newly married four years on how we should celebrate Christmas and neither of us wanted to give up any ground.  However our children were getting older (3 years and 18 months), and we needed to reach an agreement on how our young family would celebrate this season.

I am the sentimental one in our family.  I love the Christmas season, all of it: the lights, the tree, the presents, cookie baking, surprises and secrets, being with family and of course, celebrating the Reason for the Season – God becoming a man and dwelling among us in order to fulfill His plan of redemption.

On the other hand, I don’t think my husband has a sentimental bone in his body!  He is very practical, very logical, extremely well-grounded in Scripture and very matter-of-fact.  This particular Christmas, he was finishing his education at seminary and had learned that most of our traditional Christmas celebrations began as pagan rituals.  He would come home after seminary classes and explain to me what he had learned in class and the conflict would begin!  He didn’t want our family to take part in any celebration that did not glorify God.  With such a youthful intensity to do only that which glorified God, he didn’t want us to participate in some of the traditions I loved because of their original intent.

Technically I agreed, I certainly didn’t want to be a part of anything that didn’t glorify God!…..but I couldn’t imagine Christmas without all the traditions I had grown up with and loved nor could I imagine not sharing those traditions with my children. 

After much discussion and heart searching, we decided we would keep Christmas traditions as a part of our celebration (yeah! – I could still have a Christmas tree!!), and purposefully seek to make the true meaning of Christmas the focus in our family by telling the Christmas story often to our young girls and singing religious Christmas carols with them. 

It was our routine to read or tell bedtime stories each night to our girls; and, during this season, the Christmas story was a much repeated favorite.  Being a natural storyteller and intent on making sure his daughters knew the true Christmas story, Ken would tell the birth of Jesus with great enthusiasm and drama.  We weren’t sure how much their young minds comprehended, but we were genuine in our desire to glorify God with our Christmas celebrations.   Yet, Ken still was uncomfortable about having the Christmas tree and other “pagan” celebrations in our home, but God was about to give us a sign.

Come back tomorrow to find out how.
Joi (aka Amanda's mom)

Dec 18, 2006 7:02:00 AM | christmas, family, good news, guest blogger, memories, mom

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yea!! Ahh . . . finally. Just in time for Christmas!!! It is now, finally, cold here. Yea!! Right now it is 12 degress. Brr. Oh, but that is 12 degrees Celsius. :) (So, it is only about 54 degrees Fahrenheit.) But, still, that's cold--especially if you are riding a moped. **UPDATED TO ADD:** AND, if we are talking inside and outside are the same temp!! Like many in southern Taiwan, I have no heater. So, it is 54 degrees INSIDE my home too. Makes me wanna stay in bed all day, warm and snug. (Thanks Mom for the warm sweaters and fun jackets. Yea!! They got here just in time!!) Speaking of my mom, she is guest-blogging for me on Monday and Tuesday next week!! So see you then when she tells you one of my fave Christmas stories. Also, please remember to pray for us and our park ministry tomorrow. And, all next week, starting tomorrow, I have Christmas parties with students--please pray for these parties as well. :) Thanks!! Happy Weekend!! P.S. Even though last weekend I was delighted to be choosen as site of the day, there will be no photo hunting for me this weekend. I refuse to think about annoying things when I can be thinking of Christmasy things!! :)
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Christmas Past, 1981 (part 2) Today my guestblogger, my mom, finishes the story she started yesterday. (Just FYI, the pics are from 1979 and 1980--it's the best I could do with what I have here with me in Taiwan.) It was a warm Texas December night and a very special one for us (ok – very special to me, the sentimental one!). It was our first time decorating a tree with a child old enough to participate. We purchased a small Christmas tree from the local grocery store and carted it home on top of our Pinto station wagon. Ken crafted a tree stand out of scrap wood and we placed the tree on top of our end table, hopefully out of the reach of our toddler’s (Sarah’s) grasp. We placed the lights on the tree and Amanda and I began hanging ornaments. She was so excited we were celebrating! I was so excited – I got to keep the traditions! It came time to turn off the overhead lights and plug in the Christmas tree lights. As soon as the lights on the tree began shining, Amanda, overcome at the beauty of what she was seeing, spontaneously began to exclaim “Oh! Oh! Glory to God in the Highest! Glory to God in the Highest! Glory to God in the Highest!” She raised her arms and began dancing around that small glowing tree praising God, repeating that phrase over and over just as the angels must have done on the first Christmas night. I don’t think I’ve ever witnessed worship as genuine as the worship I saw that night! Worship from one with such a pure heart and pure motives – a precious three-year-old, who knew only that we were celebrating the birth of Jesus and that our Christmas tree was shining just as the heavens were the night of His birth when angels praised God and proclaimed His glory. And, she wanted to celebrate and praise Him in the same way! That Christmas, God gave us just what we needed through the faith and actions of a three-year-old child. That experience changed our perspective on Christmas celebrations. We both realized that a Christmas tradition held its meaning only in the heart of the person participating in the tradition – you could focus on the warm and fuzzy feelings felt by reliving the tradition or you could focus on the original intent of the tradition or you could focus on the One for Whom you were celebrating as you participated in the tradition. In our family, we choose to focus not on feelings or original intent, but on the Reason we were celebrating. Each year, as we decorate our tree, it is a family tradition to tell the story of the night we worshipped with Amanda around our first family decorated Christmas tree. We seek to have the same worshipful heart as a three-year-old who, though only looking at the lights on a small Christmas tree, saw a sky filled with a host of heavenly...

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