Decorating for Christmas is probably one of my most favorite things to do. I’m always dying to do it earlier and earlier each year because I love the warmth it brings into a home. My husband and I find ourselves drinking too many cups of tea by the Christmas tree talking about our past year and what we hope to accomplish in the next. Christmas has always been a time for us to reflect on what we have already, on what’s happened and what’s coming, and so forth — but most of all, it’s a reminder to us of what life really is all about. It’s not about ourselves and who we are, it’s about God and His Son, and who they are and what they did for us. It brings us back to the simple things and encourages us to be braver and stronger to stand up in a world where Christmas has become not about them. As much as I love seeing the twinkle lights on the tree, the wreath on the door, the smell of gingerbread cookies being baked in the oven by my sister, the prettily-wrapped presents piling up under the tree — it would all be nothing without grace.