magical transformation

"To set up a tree in the house, to bake special cookies, take time from work, set aside money, to gather in whomever we can of friends and family, to surround ourselves with special music of great power; these things create a radical change in what is ordinary in our lives. It is a magic time." John Vannorsdall-former Yale chaplain

I love to decorate my home. I greet each new season with new decorations and Christmas is definitely one of my favorite times of year. This year, I have a confession to make, I decorated early. I have this thing about not wanting to rush the holidays and I was making every effort not to crowd out or rush Thanksgiving...but I did decorate for Christmas during the week of Thanksgiving. (gasp!) I did so because when I looked ahead on my calendar I knew I wouldn't have the time to do so (the way I wanted to) after Thanksgiving...we had friends coming in from out of town, basketball tournaments and a Christmas play all on the schedule. I'm so glad I did this. My neighbor came over the day before Thanksgiving and saw some things hanging in the windows. "I hope those are turkeys and not wreaths", she said. We laughed because she knows how I am. She knows how much I like to decorate. The whole decorating thing takes time. I have a lot of Christmas decorations. Every room gets some kind of magical touch for the holidays. That kind of transformation takes time. I was glad to not have rushed through it. I really enjoyed having the ability to put up things at my leisure.

That makes me think about my knitting. Yes, this is a 'stitching' blog and I know some of you come here for the knitting. I have been knitting (really), but I don't have any finished products to show you. You see I'm in the process. I've been working on my February Lady Sweater since October. I'm on the sleeves but still not done. My mom has such wisdom and she's been encouraging me to enjoy the process. That's fine when the process takes a week or two, but when it stretches out longer than 2 months I find myself getting a bit impatient. But she's right. Life is all about enjoying the process. Allowing myself the mental space to sit back and enjoy where I am in whatever area is in process. Just like I really enjoyed my decorating, I want to enjoy (or at least not fight) the process of progress in other areas of my life. Including these never ending sleeves.

I saw a friend yesterday. We haven't talked in a while...it's been a hard thing. When I saw her, she was driving into the parking lot that I happened to be driving out. I waved to her as our vehicles passed but she didn't even turn her head to look my way. I understand. She's in process too. Be patient with others and with yourself this holiday season. It's all a process and everyone's in different places along the way. God promises that He is in the business of 'transforming us from glory to glory". Transformation takes time. Be patient with each other...who knows which glory spot that person is on and which one they're headed to next. And enjoy the decorations! They totally remind us that this is a magical time!