Holiday Cardboard Memories
It sounds strange, but when I think about childhood holiday time, many of my memories started out as just plain old everyday cardboard. But in that magic time of year, ordinary cardboard was transformed into a colorful cornucopia centerpiece, full of perfect fruits and vegetables that looked good enough to eat. Fold pieces of cardboard in half, have the cousins write names on them and add a sticker, and they became handmade personal place cards, which sat atop each sparkling plate that surrounded the family table. Cardboard turkey cutouts hung on the front and back door windows, greeting visiting neighbors and Thanksgiving Day guests. The next day, the turkeys on the windows were replaced with grinning cardboard Santas. 
Cardboard bells hung in the doorway, silently ringing in the season. Homemade cardboard ornaments, each with their own special memory, were lovingly hung on the Christmas tree every year. Underneath the tree lay cardboard boxes of every size and shape, wrapped in bright paper, ribbons and bows, waiting to be opened. The cardboard fireplace burned bright with it's flaming logs and painted red bricks. On the cardboard mantle sat a whole cardboard Christmas Village, each little town building placed side by side over the cotton-snow. A tin foil ice rink held little cardboard skaters and a cardboard sleigh was suspended between the housetops, paper reindeer hooves resting on cardboard chimneys. But my favorite was the little cardboard church that got assembled every December 1st. The steeple held 25 little cardboard gifts and every morning during the month, my brother and I would take turns opening one of the gifts. Each little package held a piece of the Nativity; the shepherds, the animals, the wisemen and the Holy family. Number 25 was opened on Christmas morning, and the precious baby Jesus was always in that very last gift box.
That ordinary cardboard box held the reason we celebrate Christmas. God still used the old, ordinary "cardboard" in our lives by transforming it into some of His very greatest gifts. Over 2000 years ago, God used the ordinary of this world to bring us a Savior. Jesus is His greatest gift of all. It's all there in the book of Luke, chapter 2.
Read the Story.
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-Jeannie
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