Haul out the holly, put up the tree before my spirit falls again, fill up the stockings, I may be rushing things, but deck the halls again now.
For we need a little Christmas, right this very minute, candles in the window, carols at the spinet;
For I've grown a little leaner, grown a little colder, grown a little sadder, grown a little older;
For we need a little music, need a little laughter, need a little singing, ringing through the rafters;
And we need a little snappy "Happy ever after,"
We need a little Christmas now.
-We Need a Little Christmas

There is a magic to Christmas that can’t be denied. There is a sweet warmth, a kindred-spiritedness, a joy in the darkness. There is silliness and soberness. There is fairy tale, myth, and the celebration of the greatest event in human history. There is eucatastrophe, tradition, and festivity! There is a magic to Christmas, deep and old, bright and beautiful!

Do you ever wish you could bottle up that perfect Christmas feeling, can it, and store it on your pantry shelf? Tuck it back behind the jellies and pickles, lentils and herbs, so that when life feels a little lean, when kids squabble, friends are far away, husbands are worn and weary, and home feels dehydrated, you could open a little jar of Christmas to sprinkle throughout the house. I know I do. If my inner hearthlight had a physical manifestation, it would be laced with Christmas. It would diffuse the house with orange, cloves, cinnamon, and apple smells, mixed with the heady smell of a fire in the fireplace and the wet, woody smell of snow.

Turning a little into Jack Skellington from the Nightmare Before Christmas, I wonder what is happening behind the baubles and bows, paper and packages, cards and lights, songs and food. Can Christmas be canned and saved for a rainy day? What would that look like?

First, we dare not run Christmas ragged or allow it to become threadbare by overindulging in it. (Yes, I know that I say that while listening to Christmas music way too much.) The magic of Christmas will dissipate if we surround ourselves with it all the time. Then it won’t be magical. It will be ordinary. Setting things aside to increase their value is a good thing. Saving special things for Sunday, rainy days, birthdays, and holidays makes them more delightful! That dress you save for date night, that special coffee you only brew once in a while, Christmas decorations – these things should be saved. The setting aside and the saving makes them sweeter.

But can’t we learn some lessons from Christmas to use throughout the year when, as the song above says, things have grown leaner, colder, sadder, and older? When we need music and laugher? I think there are!

Music: Easy enough, the song answers its own question. Music is a big part of Christmas magic. It spreads cheer. Well, music is broad enough and deep enough to do this all year round. Lean into seasonal music. I’m playing with this right now. Different seasons can be enriched by their own music. I made an autumnal playlist with lots of cozy, homey songs, a sense of tumbling leaves, and just a pinch of spooky. It was everything I love about autumn. Now I’m working on a winter playlist – a little warm and a little cold. We can use music to lift our homes out of the blues and into light and laughter.

Laughter: Nothing lifts the spirit like a good chuckle. Foster a willingness to laugh at life and yourself. Not only will this help us combat pride, but it fills our homes with giggles. Laugh as an expression of delight. When life feels dark, seek out wonder, seek out laughter. Don’t be afraid to help facilitate this. Much of the comedy scene is pretty awful right now, but there are hysterical Shakespeare plays, books like Cheaper by the Dozen, Hank the Cowdog, and the Jeeves and Wooster series that can be enjoyed by all ages.

Decorations: Notice the first thing in the song is hauling out the holly. Beauty is important. Beauty lifts our spirits. Beauty highlights the importance of us in this place together. If the thing you love about Christmas is all the festive decorating, maybe you need to look at your decorating the rest of the year. I’m not necessarily recommending that you go all out all year. I love going “more” at Christmas and calmer the rest of the year. But you might need to freshen a bit more. Maybe you’ve neglected to make your home wonderful with beauty, and so Christmas is filled with not only its own cheer, but the only cheer. Move things around, change up your style, add one or two new things to the mix. The trees change, flowers bloom only at certain times, maybe our homes feel more uplifting when we too decorate and change things up.

Lighting: There is little as delightful at Christmas as lighting. Warm light from little bulbs fill our homes. Colored lights twinkle in the gloom. Light, light, light. Christmas magic is found in Christmas lights. When you take down that tree, consider stringing some lights other places. Get those warm-toned bulbs for your lamps. Bring in more lamps. Lamps, fairy lights, and candles make all the difference come January and even into July.

Seasonal Focus: Christmas is seasonal focused. So many songs about snow and cold. We can do this each season. Each season we can highlight things we love and the holidays that are in that season. Spring has Easter, Summer has the Fourth of July (if you’re a USA resident), Autumn has Halloween and Thanksgiving. Lean into the seasonal celebrations like you do Christmas. Don’t discount the use of these other holidays to spread cheer and brighten faces.

People: We all know that longing to be with our closest friends and family during Christmas, and while we probably don’t need to go at the holiday speed all the time, we do need to acknowledge that people play a big part in the holiday magic. So, as we’ve talked about so much recently, let’s practice hospitality. One-on-one or a whole party, have people over to help fight the blues, the cold, the weariness. If we do cookie exchanges at Christmas, do a fruit salad exchange in July. Have a Family Day in June. There is no reason to celebrate community only once a year.

Rejoicing and Praise: Ultimately, the deepest magic of Christmas is the rejoicing and praise for the Incarnation. This is the well-spring of all that Christmas is. What does this teach us? Praise and joy should fill our hearts and spill out into our homes every day. We live post-Incarnation. What a time to be alive! While it is a blessing to highlight this world-altering event at Christmas, that should not be the only time we think about God taking on human flesh to live with sinners and die for sinners. This should infuse every single day of our lives. So sing a few incarnation hymns to yourself throughout the year. Remind yourself of what our Lord Jesus did all year round, not just when you get your nativity scene out. Maybe play the Messiah in July, and May, and September. If we want joy in our homes, we have to put our eyes on Christ and fill our hearts with joy first.

Christmas is special, HearthKeepers, and we should embrace that and lean into it, but we can also learn from this wonderful holiday how to make our homes warm and bright year around. That’s the goal, isn’t it? To light the way back home for our people every day. To be ready to tend in season and out. To have full hearts and full hands and full cupboards. To embrace all the delights of creation. But most of all, to see life through the lens of the Incarnation.

Merry Christmas, HearthKeepers!

We Need a Little Christmas

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