Un-Decorating After Christmas

Hey sweet DoAheads! I’m so excited to have Darcy Cottone share with us today! I met this lovely lady at a speakers conference six months ago.

Darcy is a Speaker/Writer from Omaha, NE. She’s the wife of a wonderful husband and Mom to two terrific kids. She works part-time for her church. One of her greatest joys is using her creativity to share what she’s learned from her faith, life and work experiences.

Without further adieu’ here’s Darcy!

I am amazed each year at how much joy I get from “un-decorating” after Christmas. I don’t want to minimize the joy and wonderment that the celebration of the birth of our Lord and Savior brings each year. But if I am honest I am truly ready to get that abnormally large evergreen tree out of my living room when the holidays are over!

When the tree is removed and everything is taken down I feel a measure of peace that life is a little less decorated and a little more back to normal. I used to feel a little guilty about this but then I think about how content I am with the house fresh and ready for the New Year.

During the Christmas season we decorate our houses but we also decorate our hearts. Our hearts swell when we think about special moments like the wonder of a large fresh cut tree in our living room, cookies, memories and that special increase in goodwill toward men.

We make it a point to have fellowship with friends at parties, buy gifts for our loved ones and sing the same songs shared from generations past. Most importantly, we reflect on how important the birth of Jesus really is to us.

During the holidays the world teaches us that we should thrive on sensory overload. The advertisers suggest we should get something bigger, brighter, and newer than last year and fill our schedules to the brim. Is it possible that our hearts can experience holiday sensory overload like our lives? I think so. Our hearts swell emotionally with good things like, love, joy and faith but it can also be tarnished by challenging things like materialism, family disagreements and disappointment.

When I “un-decorate” following Christmas I try to mend or dispose of any decoration or ornament that was damaged during the holidays and take care to wrap important things and put them away where they will not get broken so they’ll be ready for the next season. I have assigned this task to my kids before…. when unsupervised the task is usually driven by speed and not accuracy and that’s when decorations get broken or lost.

I suggest we take the same approach with our hearts after the holidays. Many times we experience the feeling of letdown when the busy holidays are over. The wear and tear on a heart from the busy season can be hard to overcome and our time with the Lord can be challenged or ignored.

In order to get your heart “back to normal” after the holidays, take some extra time to thank God for all of your blessings, and ask Him to come inside, repair anything broken, and fill it with love. Then you will have that peaceful feeling like a clean house after Christmas and will be ready for the New Year.

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I so appreciate Darcy’s words of wisdom regarding post Christmas Do’s and Don’ts!

Even though I won’t be posting next week I’ve some fun graphics and qoutes you won’t want to miss. I’m hoping to get your creative juices flowing as we ready our heads and hearts to think about New Year’s goals and aspirations!