Miss Ruth Was On To Something

After church tonight, we took down and packed up the Christmon Tree, the Advent wreath, all the greenery, the Nativity Scenes…all the Christmas bling.  It was cold and rainy, with the threat of severe winter weather looming.  There were only a few of us, but the mood was lighthearted.  Packing up stuff after Christmas is just one of those jobs that you have to tackle.

I kept thinking about Miss Ruth Crowson.  Miss Ruth died about a year ago.  She was a sweetheart of a lady, and a big part of Heflin FUMC.  Her husband had served Heflin FUMC years and years ago.  Miss Ruth was a widow, and lived in a little duplex in Heflin.  I liked to visit with Miss Ruth – the only thing was, you had to have lots of time when you visited her.  You see, Miss Ruth was a talker.

Miss Ruth left her Christmas tree up year round.  I asked her about that one time, and she said that it was a lot of trouble to put up and down, but mostly she left it up because her great granddaughter just loved it.  “I keep it up,” Miss Ruth said, “because I love seeing the look on Sarah Hope’s face when I plug the lights in.”  Not a bad reason.  It made me smile every time I went to Miss Ruth’s.

Maybe we’re too quick to pack up Christmas.  Maybe we should leave out the joy, the wonder, the awe.  Maybe we should keep the goodwill and the smiles out for everyone to see.  It would be OK to pack up the stress and the consumerism.  Surely we can do without that for a few months.  But that other stuff…the good stuff…  Maybe Miss Ruth was on to something.