Always Christmas...

Taking down the Christmas decorations this year, I realised that, every year recently, I have left up one more Christmas decoration than the previous year.  It started three years ago when I didn't take down the frieze of Christmas baubles which had replaced the kitchen curtains; two years ago the tree lights looked so wonderful that I left them draped across shelves and mantelpiece; last year a planted arrangement, complete with candle, stayed for several months. This year, greenery, fir cones and candles have kept their place and a Kenyan banana fibre ring, usually used as the stand for a clay pot, has transformed to a simple wreath with gold ribbon. The ring has been a part of my life for so long that I can't bear to pack it away into a box and so it hangs near the dining table.

My house is becoming 'Always Christmas but never Winter'.

This is the antithesis of the line in CS Lewis's The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe where, in frozen Narnia, it is 'Always Winter but never Christmas.'  The suffering Narnians long for Aslan's return, which, eventually, he does and the country springs to life: Lewis intended Aslan to represent Jesus, who brings life.

Jesus came, to a lost and broken world. He created Christmas and, for Christians, life IS 'Always Christmas'.

That thought has made taking down the decorations so much more bearable. The baubles - which look SO ridiculous in the height of summer - make me smile; the glowing colours of the plants cheer me on darker days; the lights... well, just as those baubles and plants remind me of Christmas, the lights represent Jesus, the Light of the World, whose followers do not walk in darkness.  

So it's not just my house, but my life, too, where it can be 'Always Christmas but never Winter.'

Cheery thoughts for all kinds of darker days.