There are certain rules I have always tried to live by.  For those of you that know me well, you might find that statement interesting because I’m also a firm believer that most rules are basically just suggestions.  There are certain rules that we call laws, that society as a whole are supposed to obey.  There are other rules we call commandments, that as followers of Christ we want to obey or at least try.  Then there other rules that are established by families that are usually established by parents.  These include; curfew, bed times, mom doesn’t cook dinner on Sundays, etc..  You get the idea.

Now, most of can agree that many of these are important; don’t murder, don’t steal, don’t lie.  That type of thing.  But are there are some rules that I tend to think of as more of a suggestion.  For example, speed limits, unless of course I’m driving through Pleasant Valley or on Flintlock during school zone times.  In these cases I strongly adhere to the posted speed limit because I know if I disobey I will more than likely get a ticket.  Entrance and exit signs for stores or buildings, again I feel are more of a suggestion.

By now I’m sure you are all wondering what the point to my rambling is.  Well, I have one more set of rules.  Let’s call them “Christmas rules”.  They go like this: Absolutely no decorating, Christmas music, Christmas movies, Christmas themed clothing until after Thanksgiving.  I am not really sure when or where these “Christmas rules” came about but it is safe to say that I have lived most of my adult life adhering to them.  This in some circles has earned me the title of Grinch.

Confession time!  This year I have broken not one but two of my own “Christmas rules”.  And yes, I know by sharing this I have just set myself up for endless ribbing by my friends and co-workers.  My children have never agreed with my strict adherence to these rules and will almost always break them if they can.  I’m pretty sure they both have been listening to Christmas music for several weeks now and one of them wore a Christmas sweater last week.  But when it comes to decorating they know I am the one who says when it can happen.  They always will ask if we can decorate early and only once before have I agreed to allow it to happen.  Here is my first confession.  We pulled out our Christmas decorations over the weekend.  Yep a full five days early and our Christmas tree is up.  My husband even put the lights on the outside of our house.  There were several reasons why I agreed to allow Christmas to go up early this year.  One being that if we wanted Ted’s help lugging the heavy tubs and tree down from the attic it needed to happen on a weekend.  Plus the fact that both of our girls are getting older and before we know it they will be decorating their own home for Christmas and not ours.  Who knows, maybe I’m just getting soft in my old age.

My second confession has to do with the watching of Christmas movies.  We have watched several already this season.  I blame the Hallmark channel for this rule being broken since they started playing holiday movies the first of November!  For those of you who might be wondering I will not be listening to Christmas music or wearing Christmas themed clothing until after Thanksgiving.  And I have said that even though the tree is up, the lights must remain off until Thursday.  This blatant disregard for rule breaking has to stop somewhere!

Here is the thing.  I do not hate Christmas as some claim and believe.  In fact I never have.  What I dislike is the commercialization of the holiday.  I hate that Thanksgiving has become nothing more than a warm-up act for Christmas.  I hate that so many retail stores have begun opening on Thanksgiving day and forcing their employees to leave their families for work.  Thanksgiving was originally established by early Americans as a day set aside for thanksgiving and praise to God, a day to celebrate His goodness and mercy towards us throughout the year.   And Christmas is the day we celebrate our Savior’s birth.  How could I hate that?  All I’m saying is what if we as Christians took Thanksgiving back?  What if we really spent time on this day to praise and thank God?  What if we used Thanksgiving to prepare our hearts and minds for Christmas and the celebration it was meant to be?

I am now getting off my soapbox.  Let the endless harassing begin!  Happy Thanksgiving!