Christmas Memories - Glitter, Glue and Stars

These are some of my first memories of Christmas preparations. Mom would bring out paper, glitter, and glue and my sister and I would draw stars, cover them in glue and then pour the glitter all over the page.  We then held up the paper, shaking off the excess glitter onto a clean dry piece of paper, and would be thrilled to see the glittering star appear. We spent many happy hours decorating our home.   

Mom and dad did many things to help make Christmas magical for us.  The preparations started with the annual Hudson’s Thanksgiving Day  Parade.  We anticipated seeing Santa riding in his sleigh at the end, but we were just as excited to look for dad playing his trumpet in the Detroit Fireman’s Band. The next weeks were filled with trimming the tree, and visiting the many light displays around the city. One year my Grandpa Clinard helped to build the Christmas Fantasy Display at the Ford Rotunda in Dearborn, Michigan.  I was so very proud as I walked through
that magical display, knowing that my grandpa had helped build it. 
 
But there was no “Magic” involved in the events of that very first Christmas. It was a miracle, not magic that brought joy to the world that night.  Mary, a very young woman, was told that she would become the mother of the Promised Saviour.  I can’t imagine what this young devoted Jewish woman could have been thinking. She had kept herself pure, a virgin, to be worthy of a good Jewish husband.  If what the Angel was saying were to come to pass, would her intended husband cast her aside?  What would her parents say? What would the people of her town say? Would anyone believe her when she told them exactly what the angel had told her?
 
Luke 1:30–38 (HCSB) 
 Then the angel told her: Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God.  Now listen: You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you will call His name Jesus.  He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David.  He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and His kingdom will have no end.  Mary asked the angel, “How can this be, since I have not been intimate with a man?”  The angel replied to her: “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. Therefore, the holy One to be born will be called the Son of God.  And consider your relative Elizabeth—even she has conceived a son in her old age, and this is the sixth month for her who was called childless. 
 For nothing will be impossible with God."   “I am the Lord’s slave,” said Mary. “May it be done to me according to your word.” Then the angel left her. 
 
Mary believed the prophecies she had been taught telling of a promised messiah.  That night she trusted that the words the Angel proclaimed were the intent of her heavenly father. She believed, trusted and obeyed.  There have always been those who do not believe.  There are many who choose not to trust the message of the Bible.  They choose to ignore the truth that has proven itself throughout the years.  
 
The birth of Christ was a miracle, not magical.  While preparing your home for Christmas with glitter, glue and stars, remember to
thank God for His first Christmas gift to us, the birth of our Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ.

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