Take Some Time...My Christmas Song

Music, like bread is to be shared.

This time of year is so busy for all of us.  Even when we chose to keep it simple we still can feel the pressure of the crush to get things done all around us.  As I was thinking about that this week I decided to share the verses of a song that I was given to write back in the mid 1987s.  Even today I find it is a good reminder of where my heart needs to be no matter what is swirling around me.  Though this song was written nearly thirty years ago (wow has it been that long really!?!), the message of Christmas is forever timeless and it seems no matter what decade we are in, our distraction from the importance of what we are really celebrating is always there haunting us.

As  songwriter this one song was such a gift to me.  It was written in a flurry, like it dropped from the sky, one afternoon right onto the page as I sat with my guitar in my living room.  That rarely ever happens...that is why I consider it a gift.  So I pass this gift on to you with hopes you will have a blessed and very Merry Christmas.

TAKE SOME TIME
Words and music by Patricia N. Hicks 11-23-1987

The holiday season is upon us once again
With all of its holiday cheer
Brightly wrapped packages, lights on our houses
Gathering with those we love so dear

There’s all of the shopping, and all the decorating
To create such a special atmosphere
But sometimes in the hustle and all of the tinsel
We find that we’ve forgotten Him

(chorus)
So take some time to center upon Him
The Son of God, the King, the Savior of all men
The child born that night in little Bethlehem
Take some time, take some time

For some folks it’s the turkey, or ham with the trimmings
With others it’s the cookies and the fudge
For some its old Saint Nicholas, sliding down the chimney
Or hunting down a Christmas tree to cut

So many traditions and special memories
Are wrapped up in this season of love
But sometimes in their making we wind up forsaking
The one we’re celebrating

(Chorus)
So take some time to center upon Him
The Son of God, the King, the Savior of all men
The child born that night in little Bethlehem
Take some time, take some time…just for Him

My prayer and hope is that you may find the blessing of Christ in your heart and home this Christmas season.

~Patty~


Copyright © 2011 by Patty Hicks
All rights reserved. No part of this blog may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including printing, recording or by any information storage and retrieval system without written permission from the author, except for the inclusion of brief quotations in a review. All reviews must include author's name and a link back to this blog.

'Tis the Week Before Christmas

'Tis the week before Christmas

And all through the house,

Nothing looks different
not inside or out.

The stockings and tinsel are still in the bins,

No goodies are ready to fill the gift tins.

No presents are wrapped though simple they'll be,

No lights are a twinkling

And oh there's no tree.

 So what is the matter?

Why so curmudgeon?

Why did no cookies get baked in that oven?

Sometimes life gets crazy,

Sometimes its just big,

Some times are just harder

And spirits wear thin.

But even when seasons are not quite so jolly,

Our hearts they are filled with the first Christmas story.

When there in a manger the savior was laid,

Born of a virgin that first Christmas day.

And when all of the rest is not quite up to snuff,

We find ourselves left with what really is most

Of love that breathed life

And hope born of love

That God sent His son to earth from above.

You see its not really the things that we have,

Not presents, nor trees,

Nor turkey or ham.

Its much more than the trimmings

And wrapping and bows,

Its much more than carols

Sung as it snows.

Just past what you don't see,

Look and you'll find,

that though there's no tinsel,

No tree and no lights,

Our hearts they are filled

From inside to out.

And yes it is Christmas,

And by this there's no doubt.

Merry Christmas Everyone and may God bless.

 Romans 3:20-23

Copyright © 2010 by Patty Hicks

All rights reserved. No part of this blog may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including printing, recording or by any information storage and retrieval system without written permission from the author, except for the inclusion of brief quotations in a review. All reviews must include author's name and a link back to this blog.

No Tree, No Lights, No Presents

So here I am sitting in my living room which has not one single Christmas decoration up and which looks like it would on any given day of the year. WHAT!?! No decorations!!! Why?!? How many people think this way when people don't "do" Christmas? There are a ton of you out there and I think I heard from half of you. Probably some of you would have come over and decorated for me if I lived closer to you just so we would "have" Christmas here. My question is why do we bother really? Decorations, presents and all that don't "make Christmas for us, or do they?

There were a whole bunch of things that made not decorating for the holiday a good idea. This is not to say I found it easy...it was not easy. My really wanted the clean house with the beautiful decorations. Lights in all the windows and out on the fence and house, the fresh fir tree all decked out and the piano bedecked with candles and my beloved hillybilly Christmas bear family on display. I wanted it all up really...I just love decorating for Christmas.

There were just too many things getting in the way of it happening this year so it didn't matter how much I wanted "it","it" was not going to happen. My husband's use our home as his workshop tends to take over our home which was the biggest hurdle we'd have to overcome before decorating. Then there was the new-used entertainment center we were given a week ago that sat askew out into the middle of the living room all week long awaiting the cleaning and installation of the electronics that would reside in it. That kinda put a crimp on things too but the "why" we didn't decorate is not really what this is about here.

All week long I was getting wrapped up in the hope that we might decorate and found myself pretty much suffocating in the reality that it just wasn't going to happen this year. I could not find the strength in this hobbled body of mine to accomplish what needed done and most of it was for Ben to take care of really. This left me staring vain desire right in the eye which which fueled a battle within me that started out as a simmer and finally came to a rolling boil.

I kept telling myself it didn't matter really, that I would survive, which I knew I would...but I wanted "Christmas" here! What is Christmas after all if its not decorations and big family meals and all the presents? I finally got so frustrated in order to not just explode I set about accomplishing a white tornado clean-up/rearrangement job on our living room which I should not have been doing by myself but found quite cathartic. As the pent up energy inside me was focused into the physicality of the job, my frustration melted away. At its completion as I collapsed in my chair I didn't care if we didn't have a tree, lights or presents..I was so glad to have the living room clean and freshly arranged and oh I almost forgot!...While I finished playing the white tornado, Ben finished and put into place our entertainment center.

As I look around today I realize we did get presents...they came in some rather unusual ways and from people who were passing them along. The entertainment center passed along by a friend last week and newly installed, a printer/scanner that we actually need give to us by another friend just yesterday. On top of these were a couple of unexpected blessing from our neighbors and friends. The card from our Vietnamese neighbors who moved in this past summer..."Merry Christmas" sign left at our front porch by the sweet folks at my new church, the little houseplant delivered a couple nights ago in the cold rain by our neighbor down the street and the his&hers watch set, a gift from our young neighbors next door Alex and Irina and their little son AJ. The gift of not having to put away Christmas decorations too. So we may not have had the most traditional Christmas ever...but it is still Christmas...with absolutely no decorations.

Finally, as I watched the sunrise this morning I took a good long moment to thank God for the many blessings we have been given, remembering those imprisoned for their faith, those serving our country and all of the families awaiting their safe return. Then taking time to thank Him for the gift that most freely given yet infrequently received. Given by the one born to live to die that we might be with Him in heaven. This is the only true gift of this season. No lights, no tree, no gathering of loved ones or other presents before or after will meet its worth. For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given...He died that we might live...His life for ours...the greatest gift. Thank you Lord Jesus for your priceless gift, the gift of salvation, the gift of Your life.

Merry Christmas Everyone. May God bless you, everyone.