A stable. A natural birth. Shepherds. Animals. Tired travelers.
It wasn’t fancy. It wasn’t grand. The only thing majestic about it was the identity of the child. It was simple.
I posted on Instagram last week about the fact that my theme for Christmas decor this year is simplicity. Since posting that, I have seen that theme echoed all over social media (even Young House Love Has a Podcast talked about it in this week’s episode!) Either it’s just the trend this year to make things simpler, or people are tired of complicated and desperate for peace. I have a feeling the latter may be informing the former.
When we moved into our new home, everything we owned got piled into the basement while we worked on renovating the main floor. Once that Reno was done, we only moved the things upstairs which we actually needed or wanted, and all the extraneous stuff was left in piles in the basement (it’s chaos down there).
Moving things in that way taught me a valuable lesson: we don’t need as much stuff as we thought we did. In fact, we don’t even WANT as much stuff as we thought we did.
As a lover of home decor and decorating, I have a tendency to collect and hoard pretty things. I love a good find. But the truth is, I don’t need ALL the pretty things. It’s ok to leave space for things to breathe. When my house has blank space and is de-cluttered, I find that it gives my mind the freedom to de-clutter a little as well.
When Christmas comes around, we pull out boxes of EXTRA stuff to add to our already cluttered homes. It’s beautiful and sentimental, yes, but this year I just wasn’t in the mood. I wanted simple. I wanted space to breathe.
So I left several bins of holiday knick-knacks in storage and only pulled out a few choice things. I cleared our dining room shelves of everything that was already there to make room for some decorative miniature trees. I used fresh greenery and wreaths to adorn the table and doors.
Our skinny tree that was perfect in our old house feels too small here, but I decided that it simply wasn’t a financial priority to buy something new. And the NOT buying felt so good.
My prayer this Christmas is that I keep things simple. That I allow my heart to celebrate the coming Messiah rather than just the pomp and circumstance of holiday tradition. Will I still watch cheesy Hallmark movies and listen to Bing Crosby while I drink hot chocolate? Absolutely. But my hope is that my heart makes room for Jesus above all else.
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