This year Christmas for Chris and I is not about ribbons or bows.
It is not about lights, fancy wrapping papers, or big presents.
This year it is all about Simplicity.
Getting back to the roots of Christmas.
Before Chris and I left Southside Baptist Church, some of the sweet older ladies gave me a most precious gift.
At the time, I did not know just how precious it was.
Not long after I opened it, one of the sweet ladies passed away.
I still have a card that she gave me for my birthday, the last time she was ever at church, stuck in my Bible.
They gave me a Willowtree Nativity Scene.
It is the only Christmas decoration that I brought to New Orleans.
Partly because it is the most special, and partly because none of our other decorations would fit in the back of the car with the rest of our stuff.
The simplicity is just a perfect image of Christ.
His love is simple.
It never changes and never ends.
All one has to do is ask.
Just ask for it, ask to receive it!
Sweet Simplicity it is!
On my Willowtree people there are no faces.
I imagine that Mary's face is smiling and joyful. Maybe some soft tears of emotion rolling down her cheeks.
I imagine Joseph's face showing bewilderment and amazement, for he most likely did not fully grasp who that precious boy was going to become.
I imagine the scene was silent. With no sounds made at all.
Maybe an occasional soft cry of the sweet baby and a rare puff of approval from the animals around.
I imagine that they all stared in awe for quite some time at those sweet tiny fingers and toes.
Just as the famous lines stand true for Christmas from the movie the Grinch, it stands true for the true meaning of Christmas,
"It came without ribbons. It came without tags. It came without packages, boxes or bags. And he puzzled and puzzled 'till his puzzler was sore. Then the Grinch thought of something he hadn't before. What if Christmas, he thought, doesn't come from a store? What if Christmas, perhaps, means a little bit more?"
