Christmas Dishes

These are the Christmas dishes (sometimes refered to as the "winter dishes").

Master loves the Christmas dishes. There's a part of Him that honestly wants to keep them out year round. He takes pity on me and only requests that I have them out for the winter.

I really don't like these dishes. They seem too "kitschie" to me, and they are just not particularly substantial. They remind me of the inexpensive and sort of tacky dishes that I had when I first left home so many years ago. I start out feeling sort of alright about them, or at least feeling pretty "neutral" about using them, but by the time spring arrives, I am thrilled to be able to pack them away.

This year, the first of November arrived, and He hadn't even mentioned the winter dishes yet. We bought some new, cool, square, red dishes this year, and T and I had suggested that they could serve as the winter dishes. He wasn't crazy about the idea, but hadn't made any comments about the Christmas dishes either...

I was torn. I don't like the Christmas dishes. He hadn't told me to put them out. We did have the red plates. "Maybe," I thought, "He won't ever remember them, and I can get away with just not doing it this year." And as I heard myself thinking that "Maybe I can get away with..." thought, I knew that I just had to get out the winter dishes, and start using them. I didn't say anything much about it. Just made the transition.

It was T who really noticed it and brought it up at dinner one night shortly after they first appeared: "Why are you using these plates?" she asked. The question caught me by surprise, and it took me a minute to figure out how to answer her. Finally, I just shrugged and said, "Because I'm very good."

And that is really the explanation. Putting these dishes out, that He loves, without the actual spoken command was a simple, easy way of doing what He wants. It isn't a big deal, but it does matter -- to Him.

swan