Making Ready

 

A baking day family favorite: cinnamon pinwheels made from pastry scraps--they were gone in a blink

It was a fun day of baking and making ready. I listened to some of my favorite Christmas songs and singers as I worked in the kitchen:  Bing Crosby, Frank Sinatra, Judy Garland, Andy Williams, Julie Andrews. There was dancing. There were stories and laughter. There was a game of hide and seek while I stuffed the bird this evening.

During the afternoon the neighbor girls came to play with Emmeline. I was peeling apples with my old-fashioned apple peeler-corer-slicer machine. It's very satisfying to place an apple on the spindle and turn the handle. All of the girls took a turn at it, and in minutes we had peeled and sliced enough apples for a pie.

One of the girls said, "We can't play at my house today because my mother is cleaning and she'll be mad." They have a houseful of company coming tomorrow. Afterward, I though about one of my favorite passages in Scripture (Luke 10:38-42) the one about Mary and Martha. I meditate on this passage often, but what struck me about it today was how happy I was in my work of getting ready for the holiday. My home was filled with peace and joy, and I was thankful for the work I had to do. In that passage from scripture Martha is unhappy with all that she must do to serve her house guests (Jesus and his disciples) She feels burdened, overwhelmed. However, her sister Mary doesn't share her feelings. She is enjoying the visit with Jesus instead of fretting over the housework. I don't have company coming tomorrow--it's just us seven. I wondered if I would be anxious and fretting over the preparations if I had guests on the way. Probably. Yet, really, the amount of work required to put on the meal and get things ready would be exactly the same. Nothing would be different except the way I felt about it. Suddenly, I had a strong sense of what Jesus meant when he told Martha, "Only one thing is needed." Yes, a spirit of thanksgiving.