The Scent of the Season

The weather in the Southeast has been unseasonably warm, too warm, in fact. It's difficult to wrap presents, put lights outside, or even think of Santa Claus coming soon. It is supposed to cool down by the weekend though, so maybe I can get more in a holiday mood. We had play practice with the children tonight and also choir practice. They performed very well, especially considering we have only had 3 practices now. We adults always get uptight but in the end the children always come through and make a hit with the audience. They are so cute that even if they do goof up, it will be okay. Perfection is not what we seek when working with children on adults. We are just trying to demonstrate the story of Jesus' birth through song and acting.

Tomorrow, I will mail my Christmas cards to family and friends. I was finally able to get them all ready today. Kendra brought me some pine garland to decorate the stairwell with. I wanted to make the house smell more like Christmas now that we use an artificial tree. The smell takes me back to my wonderful childhood days, days when we would hunt for our Christmas tree, cut and bring it home to enjoy. Mom always let us help decorate the tree but we never put the paper chains, etc on; she always used the colorful ornaments which we loved. Christmas was such an exciting time of year for a child. Dad would read the Christmas story, the highlight of the season. We never forgot why we celebrated. And, this year we will still remember why we have Christmas as we thank God for blessing us each and every day.

The scents of the season continue to live in my memory: pine, cedar, pumpkin pie and apple pie, collards (many people hate this scent but I happen to love it!), cinnamon, marshmallows melting in a cup of real, homemade hot chocolate, and so many more for you add to the list. Bring them all on!