Joyeux Noel

"Kalat" is the tagalog word that means "litter" or "something spread about".  I am NOT a fan of kalat, but with four sons it's something very difficult to avoid.  Dirty laundry can be kalat, Pokemon cards can be kalat, and Legos strewn on the floor is MAJOR kalat.  This explains why I am not a big collector of anything, really.  I don't care for souvenir spoons (like my mom did),  or for giraffe-related sculptures, or magnets in the shape of the states.  I like that I don't have a "thing" where people would always give me "thing"-related stuff to fill up some kind of display cabinet for which I don't have any room anyway.

But if you look closely just at our Christmas tree, you'll see I come fairly close.  Every year I like to buy a new ornament for the tree.  Not one that I had bought the year before on the day after Christmas at like 95% off.  No, I mean to buy an ornament during the current season, when the stores have their best decorations out, and these decorations are still fully glittered, haven't been stepped on, the designs are still intact and they're not broken.  Oh, and the ornament has to have the word "Joy" on it.  (I know the one pictured above doesn't say that, but it's because I haven't found my special ornament yet for this year.)  :o)

As a big fan of the writings of C.S. Lewis, I remember him describing joy as something only of God.  Whereas happiness is the result of beneficial situations and is a feeling that comes and goes, Lewis stated that joy itself is complete pleasure in the Lord.  It is immune to the sway of emotions.  Joy does not change because it is not of us but of God, who never changes.  The Psalmist writes "In Your presence is the fullness of joy."  (Psalm 16:11)  Is that not what we celebrate at Christmas?  The birth of Jesus Christ gave man the ability to be in the physical presence of God.  It exemplified God's love for us, that He came to earth to live like a man but also to be able to die for our sins.  I know that sounds simple, but aren't the simple things worth celebrating, too?

So I don't consider my "joy" ornaments "kalat" because they're always contained in a specific place:  on the tree.  And I don't have them out year round, either.  But if I can ignore the dirty laundry for a moment, keep the Pokemon cards in their tins and maneuver around the Legos underfoot, I'll make my way to our Christmas tree whenever I can, searching for the reminder of the real meaning of this holiday and the joy we are all to find in it.