CHRISTMAS Why You Should Always Decorate the Christmas Tree From the Inside Out

Yesterday was one of the most perfect days ever.

Ever.

In the history of ever.

The chicks are home and we decorated and made chicken pizza with blue cheese and the best homemade cauliflower crust and watched “It’s A Wonderful Life.” And my favorite Christmas music played all day.

Days like this are what make life worth the living.

Truth.

We live every day planning for the big moments.

The milestones.

The commemorations.

The events and occasions and seasons and ceremonies and celebrations. And we think that that is where the joy and the happiness and the satisfaction are found.

Sometimes it’s true. But sometimes? It’s the ordinary moments that catch us unaware and sprinkle joy into our day.

Ordinary moments make life extraordinary.

And so today, I want to share the sweetest story I’ve shared before about what’s truly important this holiday season.

Trust me, it is SO worth the repeat.

And there’s the BEST Christmas tree decorating tip, too.

Four days before Thanksgiving with Christmas music blaring in the background, my daughter, Whitney, and I spent the afternoon decorating the tree in the family room.

We pulled down a tub from the attic filled with beaded snowflake ornaments and eucalyptus and reindeer and a driftwood star and twinkle lights everywhere. We set up the tree and fluffed the branches and strung the lights and then it was time to decorate.

I handed her the entire contents of the tub and told her to start with the white ornaments first and left to go work on the bows on the front porch.

When I came back to the room half a tub of ornaments had already made its way onto the tree.

I smiled and told her it looked beautiful.

And then?

I made an ornament decorating suggestion.

“You want to make sure to hang the ornaments inside the tree. Adding ornaments near the trunk of the tree gives it depth and helps layer the ornaments. Decorating from the inside out makes a tree truly beautiful.”

She nodded and studied the tree and then turned to me with a serious look on her face.

And said something that stopped me in my tracks.

“Mom,” she said. “What you said about the tree? It’s true. And you know what? It’s true for people, too. We should all work on decorating our insides first.”

What?

What in the world did she just say?

When did my daughter get wiser than me?

She was so right.

There was such a life lesson right there in front of me and I almost missed it.

Instead of working on our outsides. Instead of focusing on the outer layer. Instead of hanging all the prettiest ornaments for everyone to see.

We should be decorating ourselves from the inside out.

We should be decorating our hearts with kindness and patience and encouragement and be so full of joy so that it spills over to the outside for all the world to see.

Sweet Whitney.

Her words that day were filled with a wisdom way beyond her years.

Somewhere along the way she figured out what is really important and shared it in a way that brought this entire holiday season back into perspective for me.

Life is so much better when we make sure our insides are decorated with kindness and joy.

It’s a life lesson that will live on long after the Christmas lights are put away.

A lesson and a moment I will remember forever.

See what I mean?

Life is truly lived in the ordinary moments.

I’m pretty sure someone wise once said that, too.