Is Your Christmas Tree Up Yet?

Our pastor asked the question last Sunday at church. The sermon topic: Thankfulness. A number of people raised their hands to say, “YES!”. Others groaned.

How could anyone allow Christmas decor in November??

Novembers growing up on Spencer Avenue were dedicated to Thanksgiving. Christmas came cheerfully into focus once December arrived and not a day before. Our home even had its own Thanksgiving Tree made by mom. A tangible reminder that being thankful was its own kind of gift.

When I got married, my husband began decorating for Christmas in November. You see, he had been homeless for a time before God drew him to Christ. Christmases were a time of darkness and despair because of choices he made in his young adult life.

When Jesus Christ changed his eternal destination, the Christmas celebration took on a whole new meaning for my husband. Decorations appeared everywhere the eye could see starting in November.

One November this very week fourteen years ago almost toppled us. I came home from a week-long hospital stay with a colostomy and a cancer diagnosis. Thankfulness was a tear-filled choice. Family helped us decorate. Green wreaths and soft Christmas lights filled the space where I recovered. We caught our breath, steadied our gaze on Christ, and navigated our way, over time, back to hope.

Randy Alcorn shared this on social media recently:

God has built into us a nostalgia for the world that once was, before sin and curse and death and suffering. We are homesick for Eden, for its beauties and pleasures and health and vibrant relationships. “I long for Your salvation, O Yahweh, and your law is my delight. Let my soul live that it may praise You, and let Your judgements help me.” Psalm 119:174-175, LSB

Since the Great Family Storm of 2010, November sort of wraps us up in nostalgia, a remembrance of sorrow, thoughts of things broken and healed, a promise of peace, and a yearning for the Savior who will return and be, surely, the reality of how a happy Christmas makes us feel. Finally at home.

For the record, so far this year, three trees are decorated and brightly declaring Christmas is on the way.

Friend, if you’re homesick for less difficult days, or facing challenges that are shadowing the season, I pray that God will bless you with his kindness and love and great comforting presence as we enter this season of giving thanks.