'TIS THE SEASON: FOCUS ON WHAT MATTERS

I apologize for these sad pictures - it's a very cloudy, drizzly day, and one needs some natural light to get good photos!

If someone were to tell me I could only put up one decoration this year, it would probably be this one - the Raku nativity set my husband presented me with several years ago, when I had been pouting and he was feeling a bit guilty.  I have set it up in a different location each year but, this year, finally settled on the perfect one.  It has knocked my son's collection of nutcrackers out of first place to earn the premier spot over our fireplace.

There are sooooo many reasons why I love this nativity set and its new location -- not the least of which is the way the light over the picture just happens to shine directly over the baby Jesus and on the angel's face.

I love, love, love the way the colors of the set just happen to echo all the colors of the picture above and those of the vases and candlesticks that were already on the mantel.

I am tickled to death that my set is the only one I've ever seen that came not only with sheep, ass and cow, but also a reindeer!

I'm thinking perhaps it just happened to be sitting near the nativity display, and some young clerk grabbed it up thinking it was part of the set.  Whatever the reason, it makes me smile whenever I see it.  He looks quite happy to be there, don't you think?

However, the thing I love most of all about this set and its new location is what it reminds me of every single time I sit down in my living room.  Not only does it remind me of the reason for the season, it also reminds me of why it came into this house in the first place.  You see, the reason I was pouting that day was that, once again, John had hauled the giant tree in from the garage, set it up, then disappeared, and I was left to do all the decorating by myself.

Though we had started out our marriage with the tiniest of trees, and practically no other decorations - and had a perfectly lovely Christmas with those few trappings -- we had added more and more to the collection each year until it pretty much filled our attic, and there was Martha Stewart on TV, telling me that if I really wanted my family to have a good Christmas, not only did my house need to look like those pictures in the magazines, I also needed to bake all these fancy cookies, give fabulous parties, make handmade ornaments and gifts for all my friends, and set a perfect table, and...and then I found myself having to do everything by myself, and feeling like no one even appreciated it.  So I decided, well heck!  If no one appreciated it, or wanted to assist in all the "fun", why was I even bothering?

A couple of years ago I happened to read a book called On Strike For Christmas, about all the wives in one little town who went on strike and left it up to their husbands to make Christmas happen that year.  I picked it up because I was in the mood for a little male-bashing, but that isn't exactly what I got.  You see, it made me realize that this was just as much my fault as it was John's.  I was spending way too much time trying to make everything "perfect", and not enough time just enjoying my family's company.

Maybe I went a little to the other extreme, what with not putting up a tree at all last year, but it certainly got my family's attention!  This year, I think we've found the perfect compromise, and both hubby and I are feeling pretty jolly.  I've got a scaled down tree, I've got my stockings, I've got plenty of time to spend with my family, and, best of all, if I find myself slipping back into old habits, I've got this nativity set to remind me -- Keep it simple, and focus on what really matters!