Understatement

Christmas is upon us. Even if you didn't know anything about the Holiday you could not possibly miss the excess which surrounds it.

That isn't a bad thing in and of itself. On a commercial level, well, yet it is. Buy! Buy! Buy! is not a mantra for self reflection and growth. It fails too as a signal of hope and welcome. Yet to transform your home into a special place for Christmas is another thing entirely. 

Even that can be taken too far, although I will not and cannot pass judgment on what you think enough in your own abode, on your own property. Do as you will, and I will likely admire it in a spirit of wonder and awe just the same. Still, I rather prefer an understated decor. A nice tree and a nativity scene on the mantle would satisfy me.

It is in the quiet that the transformational appears. Gabriel's horn may blast on the Judgment Day, yet we are past change then and into what we have become. Before that, where do were learn the most deeply? In quiet anticipation where wonder grows delicately in expectation of full bloom, or with a glare that blinds us?

A Christmas tree by itself lighting a room, all darkness around it, I find a greater draw to the happiness beyond, the God-child in the manger who is our sole joy. Go to the light and all will be well.