Hello, dear friends!
Welcome to the last Five Minute Friday Link-up of 2017!
That’s right . . . we’ll be taking a two-week break over Christmas and New Year’s, so after this week we’ll meet again on January 5th, 2018.
As I look back over the past year, I’m so grateful for the many ways God has continued to sustain and bless this writing community. If you’ve been with us for a while, you’ll know that 2017 was the year we launched this website with a dedicated domain name just for Five Minute Friday.
It has been such a pleasure to continue to serve in this capacity, and I can’t wait to see what 2018 brings! Thank you all for making it so worthwhile!
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This week’s prompt is: DIFFERENT
If you’re unfamiliar with how the FMF link-up works, learn more and watch a video tutorial over here.
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Ready? GO.
I should know by now that it’s coming — and yet, I’m still amazed every year when I see how excited my kids get when we pull out the Christmas ornaments each December.
They gasp, “Oh, I love this one!” and “Oh, this one is my favorite! No actually, this one is my favorite!”
They latch on to tradition and familiarity and remembrance without any prodding or assistance, reminding me what we did last year and how everything should be arranged just so.
But this year, I decided to do a few things differently.
Instead of hanging a string of lights from the mantel, I added some fresh greenery. Instead of the framed Christmas cards I usually display, I stacked a pile of green-covered books into the shape of a Christmas tree.
We still arranged my mom’s ceramic Christmas village where it has always been since we moved into this house, and we still hung ornaments on the single strand of lights draped across the wooden manger in front of the fireplace, but the mantel is different.
My goal was for simplicity. Some call in minimalism. And I know it probably sounds ridiculous, but this single break from tradition was freeing.
It was as if I gave myself permission to break the “rules” and realize that it’s still Christmas.
STOP.
For more on resisting tradition at Christmas and how it relates to grief during the holidays, read this post over on Our Daily Bread’s Facebook page.
Wishing all of you a blessed Christmas season, rejoicing in the birth of our Savior!
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Join us for the final FMF link-up of 2017 by sharing your own five minute free write on the prompt, DIFFERENT!
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You brave woman! I still hesitate to deviate from the expected way of decorating our tree–the kids would have a fit (and they’re 23 and 25 😉 ). Although this year, I didn’t decorate at all, becuase we’ll be at my daughter’s house :).
I’m so glad we’re not the only ones who took a break this year to simplify. We prioritized our energy this year. The nativities are up, but no tree so far. It is freeing – not to minimize as much as to magnify the true meaning of Christmas. Bless you and your family with a beautiful and purposeful Christmas celebration!
Your choices sound lovely. Change is hardest on the young, it seems. Soon, they’ll start new traditions taking some of what they loved at home and changing it a little to make it work for them. And it will be beautiful. Merry Christmas.
Nice!
I finally got back to reading your post for the day, and I’m glad I took a minute in the busyness to do so. Thanks for confirming what God’s been doing in my heart this Christmas as well. I also wrote briefly about it in my post today. May we ever learn to celebrate God’s amazing Christmas gift with more simplicity.
Sometimes the best way to take care of ourselves and our families is to take a break. So glad you felt free to break the rules and in that find the true meaning of Christmas.