It seems just a short time ago that I was dreaming of a white Christmas. This was during a year we had experienced a lot of trials.

There was this vision in my head of everything turning white trimmed in silver.

Just thinking about those colors lifted my spirits and made me happy.

TURNING GRAY INTO WHITE

How do you have a white Christmas when everything in your life is just a bit gray?

You know what I mean?

No; I’m not talking about my hair, John Michael can solve that problem for me. I’m speaking of that color of gray that has been so popular in all the decorating magazines for several seasons with all of its vague undertones and shadows.

Joy must prevail in a Christian’s life and especially through all of the Christmas seasons. After all; the most important thing of all has already happened and because of it we want to rejoice.

Emmanuel has come!

Christ is dwelling in the hearts of mankind and we should let nothing rob us of that joy.

All else and all other worldly cares need to pale and fade into the background; just like that gray that is going away from the living room at my house when I begin to do my Christmas decorating for this White Christmas.

This year will be full of light and all of my décor will be a pure, clean white.

I love the pure, pure shades of white in this theme.

They will brighten up those places where the gray used to be; both in my life and in the rooms of the house.

ANTICIPATING A WHITE CHRISTMAS AND A COLORFUL NEW YEAR

There will be no more gray for this girl this year. and next year is going to be a lot more colorful.

Over the last few years I suppose God has been teaching me how to surf when the waters get rough. It isn’t an easy art; but I’m trying to keep my head above the on-coming and unexpected big waves.

The secret seems to be getting back up and going on out there again; rough waters or not.

WHEN LIFE GETS TOO BUSY AND TOO FAST-PACED

It sure felt for a while that everything was happening at once, and life seemed to be a little too fast-paced to suit me.

But; if you are alive and breathing; life is going to present changes and challenges. I guess that keeps us on our toes and keeps boredom from settling in. Never a dull moment is just code for “there is no time to stop to think about the bad things; only time to realize our blessings.”

WHEN THINGS HAPPEN THAT ARE OUT OF OUR CONTROL

A lot of stressful things coming one after another can be a bit hilarious when you are looking back; right?

Please don’t laugh.

The miracle is that we CAN still laugh.

I caught myself thinking that sometimes our day-to-day troubles have a very small similarity to the miracle of the light at Hanukkah.  When God wants something to happen it happens; no matter the human circumstances that try to prevent it. He can see our future and He knows what is best even when we don’t see and don’t know.

You just need to relax and go with it.

IT IS THE PEOPLE THAT REALLY MATTER; NOT THE CIRCUMSTANCES OR THE THINGS

It seems a thousand prayers have been going up from our house every day of this season for hearts that we know are breaking.

We have close friends and family going through unexpected and painful transitions.

All we can do is pray that God will guide them and that he will guide us too as we do whatever we can for them; which never feels like quite enough.

Our hearts break for these as we continue going through times with many physical struggles of our own.

WE MUST KEEP LAUGHING FOR LAUGHTER BRINGS JOY AND JOY BRINGS PEACE AND PEACE BRINGS HEALING

For all of this; the color of white seems appropriate. Our beautiful white Christmas tree will wink through the living room windows at night.

 

GOD IS THE ONE IN CONTROL

The usual calm and peace that typically prevails behind the walls of our home has been challenged a bit lately; but we don’t let those little foxes of the vineyards come in and steal our harvests of joy.

We have been aware and on alert that something bigger than us is going on, but something bigger than that (our Great God) is still in control.

What I want to say is that in every situation of life Christmas time should truly give us hope and help us to continue to persevere.

This season should always remind us of how our God made the impossible possible; and that He will give us the strength to get through all of our troubles and hard times and even bring more joy to replace those troubles if we just trust and hold on to His Word and promises.

I believe!

In thinking about believing and having faith, I was reminded of the color white.

White stands for how holy and pure the love of God is.

How I long for this love of God to be the ONLY focus of our holiday celebrations this year.

I began to think “A White Christmas” was truly just what the doctor ordered and I set out to make that happen.

MAKING WHITE INSTEAD OF GRAY

This year some of us will simply be dealing with different circumstances and hard-to-manage people; but that only means more joy from others; right?

This is a sacred time; and nothing is going to steal the joy of the season from our home.

There may be a few bumps and we may be working around a lot; but we will have our white Christmas!

We will celebrate our belief that this was truly the time of Christ’s conception and that He would have been three months old by that NEXT December after.

That little child in the manger scene, whether three months old, or new born; is still the Savior of the Word.

Of course we think that by the time we now call Christmas, Mary and Joseph had Jesus warm and cozy and safely inside a house. We celebrate that joyful fact.

Where ever they were, or what ever time it was in December; He is still The Light of the World and we will be joining in the Hanukkah celebrations of the season that celebrates this, only from a Christian perspective.

We know the miracle of the lights was symbolic of Christ Our Messiah.

It is well known that the great star from Heaven played into the coming of Christ.

There is so much about this cold, dark time of the year that brings us hope of light and joy. We serve a God of great reversals. He reversed the curse of sin when Christ came to live among us.

A HOME SHOULD REFLECT THE FEELINGS OF THE HEART

Most of all we celebrate Emmanuel; God with us.

I love for our home to reflect the feelings in our hearts.

This year; like every other year, our home will be as festive as possible; and every time I look at the white tree and the lovely white decorations with all their silver linings; I will think of heaven and the glory of God and the love and hope that He shines into our lives; no matter what, when, how or where we are.

Every problem we face has a silver lining and I’m determined we will see those come forth and happen in this coming year.

I know that is the way God works.

I’ve seen it so many times now.

Right now I’m watching all that dull gray of everyday life turning into silver. Hiding inside all of that silver is something more worthy than gold.

Each silver lining will bring a new story for people who are growing and maturing in God’s love.

I couldn’t ask for more.

A white Christmas is always exciting and just waiting to be shared with the world.

I COULDN’T ASK FOR MORE

So these photos are just a little sneak peek into the year of our White Christmas.

The people who live and love here are  the true silver lining and all of the stories they bring into my home make my heart full.

I couldn’t ask for more.

Though I’m making the main part of the house white with silver trim; I’m keeping the traditional things in our den downstairs and I’ll try to show you that as it progresses too in another article I’ve called A Traditional Christmas.

So far we have shared a white Christmas and a blue Christmas. We will soon share a traditional Christmas from our past. Do you wonder what else is in store for the coming days?

One little hint – the color is red. Be ready for a red Christmas theme.

However we choose to gather; it will be fun!

MORE NEW IDEAS COMING

NO TIME TO BE SELFISH

So what is a white Christmas without a white tree?

I chose to keep the decorations all white and silver with no other colors.

Don’t you love it?

I actually have two trees in the main part of the house. Let me tell you about the one in my kitchen. It is probably my most used and most loved tree.

The IN SEASON Family tree lives permanently inside my kitchen window.

It is decorated every month in a different way and this time it is covered with snow flakes.

There is one little star I hang at the very top of the tree. I’m arranging our Christmas Card collection on the bar table underneath as soon as they arrive in the mail.

Now that we have the snowflake tree; I feel a little story book for children about snowflakes brewing inside my brain.

FINDING JESUS IN THE ROOM

For the year we did the White Christmas theme, the dining room table held the little white porcelain nativity scene.

Though we know that Mary and Joseph were probably in a house by December and Jesus was probably already three months old; I just wanted people to see that the focus is on the Christ Child no matter where he is in the story; or what ever age he was by December.

He came down to live with us and the whole world changed without even realizing what was going on.

This can happen in our lives too.

I love the reminder of the stories of the angels and the shepherds and always try to tell them with the correct times and dates.

The little figures help us to remember.

Mary and Joseph COULD have had a shelter for the animals outside their house and we love to notice that the animals recognized their creator and honored him, and the people recognized the fact that God was the creator of the animals and He gave them to us to tend and care for.

I try to place the wise men a long distance away from the Child because they too have their own story to tell; and we try to tell it to our grandchildren with accurate dates and times and events. Jesus was probably 18 months old and living in a home when the wise men came to visit him. There were probably more than three.

THE WISE MEN

So in the year of The White Christmas at our house the focus of our table during our Christmas feast will be on The Christ Child.

Did you notice anything amiss?

It seems that Joseph is missing in these photos.  Hmmmm…..I DID find him right after Christmas inside another season’s box. He will take his proper place the next time we do this.

Joseph is important. He is just another little reminder of how important it is to have the presence of REAL MEN in our lives and to know that the whole world is a better place when Fathers are heads of their homes. We think about the fact that real Fathers pray with and teach their children and grand-children the Word of God.  Joseph will definitely never be lost again; as he is a very important part of the scene here.

USING THE ADVENT WREATH AS WE WAIT AND HOPE

We also love remembering the time leading up to the Annunciation of Christ with the Advent Wreath. This is the time to  think about what was going on in the heart of Mary as she carried The Son of God inside her body for nine whole months.

Can you imagine?

Weekly, as we approach the time of Christmas and think of God with us; we consider the nine months of Mary’s pregnancy and compare it to the time from December to early Fall when we celebrate the birth of Christ at the Feast of Tabernacles.

This doesn’t mean we can’t have figures in our home to rejoice in the fact of his birth!

We rejoice all year in his birth, life, death, burial, resurrection and look to the second coming with joy.

REFLECTIONS OF THE HEART

I love how our home reflects our hearts.

Also; I love how we are able to share no matter the circumstances.

Clearly we see how God works in all things all the time and brings us to the places we need to be in just the times that we need to be there.

I love how God knows what is best for us whenever we can only see  gray.

He brings us on through the year to find those silver linings.

We will surely see them at Christmas this year.

Thank you for letting The IN SEASON Lifestyle welcome you into our Christmas home and thank you for celebrating the life of Christ with us this year.

We love and cherish all of our readers and we appreciate the community that forms around The IN SEASON Lifestyle more every day.

God Bless You Every One!

HERE IS WISHING YOU AND YOURS A BEAUTIFUL AND BLESSED CHRISTMAS SEASON

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