My mother, Sylvia Louie, loved to decorate her house with colors and themes to suit the nearest holiday. Throughout the year, she spent her spare time researching and fabricating various arts and crafts projects, such as gnomes, roosters, fabric wreaths, and Christmas trees. In her anticipation of each holiday, she worked to ready her home and her heart for every celebration. She would put out bunnies and pastel-colored items in March for Easter; red, white, and blue items in late June for Fourth of July; and earth-toned items in September for Halloween and Thanksgiving. It was Christmastime that she most patiently waited for, since it was her favorite holiday of the year. When she and Daniel first moved to Houston, they lived in a one-story, ranch-style house. When they could afford it, they bought a two-story house that had the two features that she always wanted: a fireplace with a mantle and a staircase with handrails.
After the Thanksgiving festivities had concluded, she eagerly pulled out the dozens of bins from their storage places around the house. Three of them contained nutcrackers, two more held village pieces, two were reindeer and snowmen, two were ornaments and a skirt for the tree, and so on. She spent several hours sorting the items and planning the placement. Each set of items had their designated places: a round wreath with a big velvet bow on the front door, a tall green Christmas tree festooned with round ornaments and twinkling lights in the living room, the hand-sewn fabric stockings with family members’ names on the mantle, colorful bows and pine garlands draped over the stair rails, the village scene assembled on the end table in the den.
She carefully dispersed clusters of Santa Clauses, candles, nutcrackers, and trees in rooms around the house. She worked late into the night, and then would enlist one of her friends to assist over the next few days.
Decorating the house was only the beginning. She possessed a keen gift of hospitality, and she loved to entertain friends and family at her house. She enjoyed wearing Christmas-themed vests that were adorned with designs of holly branches and candy canes. When she opened the front door, she joyfully welcomed guests inside and played the gracious hostess, offering baked treats and hot wassail or tea. She wanted to share her love of Christmas with those around her.
How can we learn from my mother as we anticipate all that the holidays bring? What are some of the ways we show love to others during the Christmas season? Could you allow Sylvia’s Christian love and life to inspire you to love those around you this season?
