Holiday Invasion

Do you feel it? I sure do about now. I am so ready to reclaim our living room... take down the tree and Christmas village that adorns my grandmother's buffet. It might even be put away by now, but that our son is having a friend over and he wanted to sleep "under" the tree in sleeping bags. So that is what two ten year olds are doing now as I type this. (or, at least they better be sleeping!)

Our home is small and the living room gets a wee bit crowded. I bought a HUGE artificial tree about ten years ago. Back then, it was wonderful. Back then we had a love seat, small television cabinet, and little else for furniture. Nowadays, our living room sports a full size couch in lieu of the loveseat, my grandmother's old buffet, and a friends upright piano. Even without the tree it is a tight fit. We had hoped to purchase a new slimline tree at some after-Christmas day sale, but with our work schedules and the kids on Christmas break there has been no time to shop.

I had a hard time getting motivated to decorate this year. The over commercialism of Christmas just made me groan and frown at the entire holiday season. Seems hardly anyone remembers the real reason for the season. However, we do have younger children, and I was reminded by their enthusiasm that Christmas is really all about children...from the very first Christmas when God sent a little baby to carry the weight of the world, to the two beaming faces lit with excitement as they helped decorate the tree, and open gifts on Christmas morn.

At our son's request, I had set up the Christmas village. Little did I realize that it would soon be overrun by a platoon of dinasaurs, medieval battle equipment, and green and tan toy army soldiers. A few years ago I would have been annoyed to a certain degree, wanting MY Christmas village to look perfect. This year, when tampered with, I just took it in stride and began to shoot pictures. It seemed I may as well capture our son's tendency to take over the village on a scrapbook page. "Little Green Men" is a digital layout created with Susan Blanton's Christmas Cheer kit downloaded from Kjoistudions.com

Something happened when I saw close ups of the Christmas village and its little soldier men. With the nativity in the background it made me think of Israel. It made me think of unrest and war torn villages. I think of our troops and all the loved ones separated by war this Christmas season. I think of all these things, pray for them, and find I am so very blessed, so very grateful to be living where I am.

Today I just want to bring a smile to your face by sharing "Little Green Men". Playing war games is all a part of growing up for little boys. If you have one, you may know what I mean. Enjoy the rest of your Christmas vacation, work less, and play more with your children. You will be glad you did.