Christmas brings to mind many things: sights, sounds, smells, feelings, and memories. For some reason, this year, my memories hark back to childhood. I remember looking at the myriad delights in the hardback Bennett Bros. catalog toy section and dogearing pages, scratchy petticoats under velvet dresses, squinting into the overly-bright headlight attachment on Daddy’s movie camera on Christmas morning, caroling, church music, and the warmth of family gathered together.
The Neely Christmas party was a highlight. As a child, I remember packing into Uncle Kirk’s and Aunt Louise’s house on Lucerne Drive for food, fun, fellowship, gifts, singing, and lots of noise. Years later, as we trekked across town to the larger venue on Fourmile Branch Road, with our children, I still experienced the same excitement of seeing family and celebrating together.
I remember the Christmas Daddy surprised Mama with a grandfather clock, made by a local woodworker. On Christmas Eve, Daddy and I set off across town on an “elfing” errand to retrieve the clock. We took Daddy’s old army blankets and covered the clock with them after loading it into the back of his station wagon. We laughed on the way home about how suspicious it looked, that coffin-sized shape covered in army blankets.
Christmas Day was spent with Scruggs kin. Ma Ma greeting us at the kitchen door, invariably, with greasy fingers and butcher knife in hand. The luscious aromas of her house on Christmas Day can’t be duplicated anywhere else. Once the “Atlanta bunch” arrived, after hugs all around, lunch began, followed by a leisurely afternoon of gift-opening, football, napping, and extended dessert consumption. Although that house is sold, and several generations gone, those Christmas memories live deep in my heart and mind.
In my memories, the colors of Christmas stand out.
Color Christmas Red – An amaryllis in my kitchen window, opening four huge, bright red, blooms reminds me of Jesus’ sacrifice, his blood shed for our salvation. Red, the color most associated with Christmas, with a meaning complex and life-giving.
Color Christmas Green – The greenery of Christmas signifies renewal, a chance to kickstart forward motion that propels into the new year with hope and purpose. Green also reminds us of spiritual growth and the gift of eternal life.
Color Christmas White – The brilliant star that shone over a rude stable in Bethlehem, and for months afterwards. A host of singing angels in the night sky, proclaiming the birth of Jesus to lowly shepherds.
Color Christmas Purple – The color of royalty, regalness, and of kings. Yet the King of Kings came as a babe, swaddled in strips of cloth, devoid of royal robes.
Color Christmas Gold – Another color of royalty, and the gift that funded the flight, and stay in Egypt, ensuring the safety and survival of the Christ child.
Color Christmas Blue – The color Mary is often depicted wearing. Blue also draws our eyes heavenward.
Color Christmas Brown – The child born of middle eastern ancestry, a beacon of light to a barren land, to a hopeless world under the strangling oppression of Roman rule, laid in a wooden feeding trough.
Color Christmas Gray – Perhaps gray is not a traditional color associated with Christmas, but for me, and others, a little gray cloud looms on the Christmas horizon. Amid the festivities, fellowship, and memories, is an empty seat at the table, an inner longing to revert to last year, like changing an edited picture on the camera phone. To photoshop a loved one back into the picture.
Yet, God faithfully walks with those of us who are missing someone, sustaining, comforting, lighting our path, and moving us forward with grace, peace, and his favor.
“And the Word (Christ) became flesh (human, incarnate) and tabernacled (fixed His tent of flesh, lived awhile) among us; and we [actually] saw His glory (His honor, His majesty), such glory as an only begotten son receives from his father, full of grace (favor, loving-kindness) and truth” (John 1:14 AMPC).
©CandyArrington
Candy Arrington is an award-winning writer, blogger, and speaker. She often writes on tough topics with a focus on moving through, and beyond, difficult life circumstances. Candy has written hundreds of articles, stories, and devotions published by numerous outlets including: Inspiration.org, Arisedaily.com, CBN.com, Healthgrades.com, Care.com, Focus on the Family, NextAvenue.org, CountryLiving.com, and Writer’s Digest. Candy’s books include Life on Pause: Learning to Wait Well (Bold Vision Books), When Your Aging Parent Needs Care (Harvest House), and AFTERSHOCK: Help, Hope, and Healing in the Wake of Suicide (B&H Publishing Group).
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