I love autumn. The changing colors of the leaves on the trees are like a picture painted for me by the hand of God. The crunching of leaves under my feet is even more fun now that I have a sweet boy to enjoy the sound with me. The smell of the crisp, fall air is so inviting and relaxing. And pumpkin patches and apples galore just make family time that much more special.
Autumn brings about Halloween, which is the least of my favorite holidays. I don't like scary things, especially not the glorification of evil. However, I know that I don't have to fear evil because God is always with me. I choose to enjoy the Halloween festivities by trick-or-treating with Jonathan and volunteering at our church's annual "Twilight Zone," which is a FREE event for families. It is always a blast seeing kids play carnival games and enjoy cotton candy and hot dogs. I love the way our church body comes together to put on such an amazing event. (Although, I'm bummed because we can not be a part of Twilight Zone this year because we have a wedding the same night.)
Halloween gives way to Thanksgiving, which is my FAVORITE holiday. I love, Love, LOVE fall decorations; something about them just makes me smile. And I love that there is no pressure to buy gifts (my least favorite part of Christmas); we can just enjoy the company of others. My dad's side of the family gathers together for Thanksgiving brunch so that we can get all of our families together, and still share in Thanksgiving dinners with our individual families. We don't get together often as an entire family (our family is HUGE), so the time is extra special. For dinner, we head out to my mom's house and this year my in-laws will be joining us, which means dinner will be even better because Jonathan will get to see all of his grandparents in one day!
Christmas just seems to be getting crazier and crazier with each passing year. Believe me, I love Christmas just as much as the next person, but what I don't love is that it has become a meaningless holiday to many people. Christmas is to celebrate the birth of Jesus, and I don't see much celebrating of Jesus. Rather, I see a massive consumption of material things, and Jesus is put on the back burner, if He's even thought of at all. It is so hard to remain Christ-centered in a world of advertisements; when everyone is looking for the best bargains and maxing out their credit cards. Now, I'm not against buying and receiving gifts, after all, the wise men brought gifts to Jesus. What I am against is the fact that many people celebrate Christmas who are not even Christians at all. They teach their children that Christmas is about presents and toys and Santa Claus. My heart aches for those children because once the novelty of a new toy is gone, they want more and more, and are never content. True contentment, my friends, can only be found in Jesus. Enjoy the bustle and cheer of the Christmas season, but please don't forget WHY we celebrate and WHO we celebrate.
