Let Them Help

I feel it is so important to let the children help decorate for the holidays...it helps them feel as if they are part of making it special! I have been in some homes that looked as if they fell out of a magazine, and for a moment, I was (and still am) jealous! It lasts only a moment...because as you look around, you feel like you couldn't touch a thing or it might break, you feel uneasy with your children even being there, they might mess it up...etc. This does not set the tone of an inviting home, to me. What I prefer is to look around my house, as it is now, and see the little messes made in the spirit of Christmas, like the "train track" one of the boys built around the base of the tree, the nativity my son set up on his desk, it's set up backwards! I see homemade ornaments on my tree....I think there is only ONE bulb on the tree! I see lots of art work made by the kiddos, I see the HUGE candy advent calender, I see LOTS of books about the birth of Jesus, I see my windows painted by small hands...with drippy and smeary paint, I see a garland of paper gingerbread men strung across my dining room doorway for all to see! I pray the people who enter my home this Christmas season will feel comfortable, and feel the love of Jesus, not feel like they need to concentrate on not breathing as they might mess something up! Merry Christmas....Merry Memories! :)