By the timeofthis readingwe should all be out of our food coma from Thanksg iving Dinner(s). The turkey and dressing, potatoes and gravy, hosts of other side dishes along with the plethora of desserts have added pounds to the scales and inches to the waistbands. We have a few weeks until Christmas to figure out how to slim back down, so we can repeat the food frenzy process all over again.

Our kitchen and dining rooms are almost back to normal. The endless pile of dishes from dinner have been cleaned, put up or set aside awaiting Christmas. The refrigerator, however, is another story. There’s that last bite of cranberries nobody wanted, but we just couldn’t throw out. The bowl of gravy still remains untouched because someone ate all the potatoes, and there seems to be nothing to eat the gravy on. Only the dark meat is left of turkey because the white meat seems to be the favorite. Then there are the leftover corn, green beans and candied yams. Basically it looks like the refrigerator needs an exorcism because the jello at the back moved and moaned at me!

Thanksgiving is always good as we get to see lots of family and friends. It’s fun to catch up on the latest in each of the families. Anyone recently married, pregnant, births, deaths, vacations, job changes or moves are all interesting conversations to have.

With this comes the challenge of where to put all the people that show up for the holiday. Dining room tables are usually made to accommodate only 6-8 people and now you have 14+ show up! Or with all those people, where will they sit and visit until dinner…living room, dining room, breakfast nook, maybe outside if the weather is nice? Having the company is wonderful, but it can be a logistical nightmare sometimes.

The kitchen is not the only thing that seems to get turned upside down. The company has left, and you look around at the house you so diligently worked to make look like the fall season and put out hints of Thanksgiving, only to find it is no longer looking like the picture from Better Homes and Garden. You grabbed the trashcan and started make the rounds picking up the paper plates, plastic cups and napkins. Then you put the folding chairs back, card table is put back in the garage and you’re trying to figure out whose TV trays these are (you know you don’t own any).

On top of that, you gather up all the fall decorations, place them in the storage totes and begin the task of digging out the Christmas totes, inventorying them and decide what you want to put out this year and where to set it out for the Christmas holiday. You know, spread the Christmas spirit with a Christmas environment.

Who knew a holiday could be so labor intensive, complicated and needed so much planning! And Christmas is only a little over 3 weeks away; then we can do it all over again.

But you know what? I will do it all over again. I have already got the Christmas lights and decorations up outside. I have the totes pulled out with all the Christmas decorations for the house. Jill and I are already figuring out where to put up the tree we bought at the end of the year last year. We are working on the guest list, the menu for dinner, where the guests will sleep and other logistical issues involved with Christmas this year.

Thanksgiving and Christmas come but once a year. They are a wonderful time to remember and celebrate. Does it cost? Yes. Is it a lot of work? Most certainly. Is it worth it in the long run? You better believe it. God gave us so much to be thankful for, and we need to say thank you, individually and corporately (Psalm 100; 1 Chronicles 16:34 and 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18). He gave us His Son born in a manger creating the Christmas season (Luke 2). We need to celebrate Jesus’ birth.

When we look at all He has blessed us with over the last year, to not say thanks is nothing short of ingratitude. And, God sending His son to be born in the circumstances He did (a manger), later to die for our sins…well, how can we not celebrate.

Therefore, let us do our cleaning, strategizing, decorating and everything else with a smile, not a frown, remembering the joy of the occasion, even if it was only for an hour or two. It was worth it to see the faces, hear the stories, laugh at the jokes, and enthusiastically await the next holiday!

Counting my blessings, Bro. Tim