Reasons to Rejoice

I am trying something new this Christmas season. I am going to "try" to post daily either something I found to rejoice about this month or a memory from Christmas past to share. I discover the longer I am alive how very blessed I am in my growing up years and my family. Some people actually dread the holidays. I know we were talking to some people who said their Thanksgiving was boring, that they could not get away from their families quick enough. I usually cry when I pull out of the driveway of my parents house because I already miss them.

Well, the picture of the day is the advent calendar that my Grandma DeVelder made for my mom and I remember it being in our house almost all of my life. When I got married and Ryan and I had our first Christmas at our own home, I remember feeling like something was missing. The next year mom and Rachel took on the task of making one for each of us to have in our own homes. Right now, since we have no kids, it is just me putting up the little felt animals, trees, shepherds, wise men and the holy family....but someday I hope to share the calendar and the greatest story ever told with my own children.

I have many memories of this calendar. I remember my sister always being so upset because the angel that you put on for the 20th of December (which is her birthday) had the head fall off. That really burned her up. I also remember, once I learned the concept of odd and even numbers, finding a way to "trick" Rachel into taking the even numbers because then that meant I got to put the baby Jesus on the calendar and that was, of course, the coveted honor of the advent calendar.

But the thing I remember most about the calendar is that even though it was just little people made of felt and Velcro, it was a family tradition that carried us through all our growing up years. More importantly, it taught us as little children that Jesus is the whole reason we even have a Christmas in the first place. As kids it was a countdown to Christmas but now as I look at it in my own "grown-up" house with my own "grown-up decorations, it is a countdown to the greatest reason we have to rejoice. God with us, Jesus, Emmanuel....this is the reason to rejoice and for today...December 1, 2011...it is my first reason to rejoice in my countdown to Christmas.