I promised myself I would NEVER do this....

I promised myself I would NEVER do this, as I am very anti-rushing the holidays. As much as I adore Christmas, I believe that there shouldn't be Christmas decorations up on Halloween, and that we should really focus on Thanksgiving and the theme of gratitude during the harvest season. To me, rushing into Christmas takes away the specialness of it, and it ends up overshadowing the other holidays (which is so sad! I mean.... what if all your friends were celebrating another kid's birthday that's in December, during your November birthday?! Wouldn't that be disappointing?) So I've always had a strict, "no Christmas decorations up until the weekend after Thanksgiving" rule.

But... sometimes... allowances have to be made. A few weeks ago we bought our tickets to India and Thailand to visit our 5 Children's Homes there. And after talking about it for months it was finally official - we would be missing the rest of football season (we really did not think that through!), Thanksgiving, and most of the Christmas season. We won't be home until December 20th, and while I'm glad we'll get to celebrate Christmas Day with our family, those 4 days before the 25th will have to be spent unpacking, re-packing to go home, and recovering from jet-lag.

It was time to face the music.... and the twinkly lights. If we wanted to have some Christmas cheer in our house in December, then we had to put it up this weekend! (I know, I know! The trick-or-treaters will see our Christmas tree! *cringe!) So I put on some Christmas music, fixed myself a cup of peppermint tea (oh how I miss hot chocolate!) got out our decorations and got to work!


Our tree is up, and I'm working on wrapping a few presents before we leave. (Thank the Lord I bought half the gifts for friends and family throughout the year!) We've also got a small tree in our dining room, and a few festive touches in the living room. I think I may wait to put out our Nativity Scene until we get home... and may also wait to put the ornaments on the tree till then. We've done a very "scaled down" decor job this year, because we really didn't have the time to go all out. Still, I think we'll be glad to see those twinkling lights when we come home in December!

As sad as I am to miss all these holidays, I am getting more and more excited about seeing our kids. We will definitely be reminded of the REAL "Reason for the Season" while we are serving our partners and children overseas. I re-watched this video the other day, and it thrilled my heart to know I'll be hugging these sweet ones again so soon!  (*warning, my videos are no where near as good as the ones my husband makes - but I am still thankful to have this footage from my first trip to India!)

Please pray for us as we prepare for this trip. There is so much still to do (packing, etc) and this weekend we'll be gone to Mississippi for a friend's wedding. I don't know what we were thinking cramming all this in right before we leave, but God has given me a sense of peace about it. Somehow, I know it will all come together!

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So tell me... when do you put up your Christmas tree?

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