Christmas Archives - Kristina Lunde

March 30, 2022 by Kristina Lunde Leave a Comment

A Christmas Gift of Morning Glory

After being on lockdown for months, relegated to working and living in her apartment during coronavirus chaos, she decided to buy some seeds in April of 2020. A packet of morning glory seeds brought a creative gardening spark to her little home. She filled terracotta pots with potting soil, pushed seeds into black dirt, and positioned pots on the window ledge. Having escaped the northern winters, she knew there would be no cold air in this urban apartment window. Frost layers did not surround the lower window edges. No cold breezes leaked around the window frame. In this southern climate, her plants did not face frost danger. She did not miss that northern chill; instead, she enjoyed the warmth and sunshine of this new climate.

The new job took her thousands of miles south of her previous position, which also meant leaving family and friends behind. Her arrival in the southern climate timed with the simultaneous COVID lockdown of that state in mid-March of 2020. Nine months later, she still works solely from home, conferences online with her team, and has not met her boss in-person. With restaurants and museums closed, she postpones her exploration of new surroundings. She joined a church and other online groups, but meeting people and making new friends remains a big challenge given the COVID restrictions.

For the first time in her quarter century of life, she could not spend Christmas with family or friends. Knowing that she could not see them in person, she arranged online get-togethers. She zoomed, skyped and Duo-phoned for virtual visits with family and friends. This pandemic Christmas proved to be strange and unique—definitely one to be remembered.

She loved her apartment. The new job offered great challenges and new experiences, although COVID restrictions resulted in different job responsibilities from the original posting. Although grateful for an enjoyable, steady job, she longed to explore and make new friends in the area, pursuing those positive aspects of a cross-country move that she had anticipated. And being so far from loved ones with no option of travel felt heart-wrenching at times, despite the new adventures of this pandemic season.

Rounding the corner into her living room that Christmas morning, a purple color on the window ledge caught her eye. She ran over and looked. There in one of the flower pots bloomed a symmetrical five-point star in gorgeous shades of purple. A morning glory had blossomed into full flower overnight.

A Christmas morning glory! An exquisite gift from the Creator Himself, sent on the anniversary of His son’s birth. In the midst of her solitude, God displayed His creative beauty. Just as God personally and miraculously entered that stable millennia ago, and later placed a large star in the Eastern sky, he now surprised one of His children with a beautiful star in her apartment window.

Lord God, let the beauty of your creation be recognized as your gift of love to those who seek you. In this season of remembering Christ’s birth, may people all over this world be drawn to you. Let those who seek, find answers in your Word. May they recognize your provision and protection in everything from small flowers to big miracles in the midst of COVID disease, pandemic lockdowns, and coronavirus chaos. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

[Originally posted December 2020]

March 30, 2022 by Kristina Lunde Leave a Comment

Christmas Origami

There once was a young lady on lockdown;
COVID-19 kept her housebound.
With a package from her mommy,
She crafted origami,
Turned mint wrappers to ornaments all-around.

[Originally posted December 2020]

December 5, 2018 by Kristina Lunde 1 Comment

The Hole at Our Christmas Table

Photo of Christmas tree & Bible — Photo by Aaron Burden on Unsplash

The hole at our Christmas table
Is an unwanted change this year.
We continue on after the death
Of our beloved son, so dear.

Fa la la la la
The season marches on
While everyone is celebrating,
We hurt because he’s gone.

‘Tis a Christmas, oh not so merry,
Since the death has gripped us so.
We trudge along in painful grief,
In shadows of our mournful woe.

We have not turned against our God;
Our Savior’s birth we do not question.
But the little energy we now have,
Makes it tough to host a celebration.

Some days we merely make it through
In this oppressive pain of mourning,
But more persistent than this grief
Is God’s deep comfort ongoing.

We trust the eternal creator God
Despite the death of our beloved one,
Who now lives in a place prepared
By Jesus, God’s own precious son.

Instead of dreading the holly, jolly
Of the world’s celebration this season,
We choose to keep our focus narrowed
On the birth of Jesus as our reason.

Now our loved one is in heaven,
Living in God’s eternal peace.
We pray for God’s gift of refreshment
And recall of cherished memories.

The memories, although treasures,
Are sometimes bittersweet and sad
As we change our focus from the death
To the blessings of the son we had.

This year our Christmas table
Will obviously have a hole.
But may our hearts and souls be filled,
By our Lord Immanuel.

[To Tami, in memory of your son Nick, as you miss him this Christmas and always.]

December 30, 2016 by Kristina Lunde Leave a Comment

Christmas Traditions: Create, Continue, Treasure

Family Christmas traditions are to be created, continued, and treasured. Here are some ideas of what works and what doesn’t in our family:

Stay up

After the last day of school before Christmas vacation, let the kids stay up as long as they want. (Very exciting for grade school kids, but high schoolers will likely do this anyway.)

Camp out

As a family, spend the night camped out in sleeping bags in front of the lighted Christmas tree. Once the little ones fall asleep, parents can sneak off to a real bed.

Take candid photos

“Kodak moments,” a phrase named after the camera company, refers to ideal moments captured in a photo. You anticipate, strategize, raise your expectations, and spend far too much time maneuvering and attempting to get that perfect picture. In our family, that rarely works. Instead, take lots of candid photos and you may be surprised with the precious moments you capture.

Start a new tradition

Make a tradition out of something your family does, no matter how seemingly insignificant. When our kids were little, we took pictures as they sat on the couch and opened their stockings on Christmas morning. Our stockings have silly little practical gifts and chocolate, but the photo became a cherished tradition. If I ever get organized, I would make a time lapse of all those photos—growing kids and the same couch over two decades.

Pray for others

Pray through the Christmas cards you receive. After we eat dinner, we each take several cards and pray for those families. This is a great way to ask God’s blessing on our friends and family, especially those who live far away. I enjoy introducing my kids to people they do not remember or have never met. Every year, I try to do this and am always met by resistance—from everyone in my family. Sometimes this takes me until February and I end up praying alone, but I think this is an important tradition.

May God bless you as you create, keep, and treasure your Christmas traditions!

September 28, 2015 by Kristina Lunde 1,476 Comments

Brynn’s Big Girl Moment

Dear Brynn’s Mom,

Thank you so much for taking the time and energy to bring your daughters to AWANAs, our Wednesday night church program. What a blessing that you share your precious girls with us!

Your three year old Brynn is making a big adjustment to let go of you for the evening, although she likes having her sister there for support. I volunteer with Cubbies, the program for three to five year olds that both of your daughters participate in. I have three year olds in my small group, so I spend most of the evening with Brynn.

Brynn gets my attention with a gentle tap on my arm that she repeats. Tap. Tap. Tap. She then announces, “I miss my Mommy.” Wisps of white blond hair surround her cherubic face as she puckers her lip, trying not to cry.

“Of course you do.” I always try to validate her feelings before I offer my hand and present the next activity. “Your mommy will be back later, but first, let’s go to our big group time and sing.” Brynn likes to hold my hand as we walk through the hallways. She quickly distracts from her sadness and readily engages in the next activity.

Tap. Tap. Tap. Brynn gets my attention after the activity to declare, “I miss my Mommy!” Again, the quivering lower lip accompanies attempts to swallow instead of cry.

“Yes, Brynn, your mommy will be here later.” I point out Brynn’s big sister, who is on her way to the classroom, and urge, “Let’s go hear our Bible story!”

Last month, Brynn was the first to raise her hand for a question, eagerly proclaiming, “Christmas is when Jesus was born!” Her smile was huge, her confidence unshakable, her assurance contagious. May God keep her faith deeply rooted and ever-developing.

Tap. Tap. Tap. Again Brynn’s rallying almost-cry, “I miss my Mommy!”

Again, Brynn reaches for my outstretched hand and melts my heart with her angelic hazel eyes. I try to encourage her. “Your mommy is coming back soon, but let’s go learn our Bible verse, hear our Apple Acres story, and color.”

Our group of three year olds learns a weekly Bible verse, usually four to ten words long, which we practice as a group. Brynn loves to learn the verse, and is usually one of the first girls to offer to recite the verse alone from memory with her bold, “I want to say it by myself!”

As we transition between activities, I often get the familiar tap, tap, tap followed by Brynn’s “I miss my Mommy!”

My responses are similar. “Yes , you will see her soon, but let’s go to the gym . . .watch the Cubbie Bear puppet show . . . have our music time . . . first.”

Before Christmas, I had the honor of holding Brynn’s purple butterfly headband for gym time. I soon put the headband down, along with my reading glasses, so that I could join in the fun. The group of three to five year olds (and a few of us older ones acting that age) laughed, walked hesitantly, and even ran as we balanced a jingle bell on our head across the gym. As always, when I looked over at Brynn in the middle of the group, she was smiling and having fun.

In our group time afterwards, when Miss Becky asked the name of the baby who was born at Christmas, Brynn was the first to enthusiastically call out “Jesus.” Oh Lord, may Brynn always be first to call on Jesus’ name and may that be her strength and hope in life. God, please build in her a great faith that touches others with Jesus’ love.

Toward the end of that night, I felt the usual tap, tap, tap. Before I said anything, Brynn looked up at me with her sweet face and triumphantly exclaimed “I don’t miss my Mommy!” Brynn’s big girl moment: she could relax and enjoy the evening, convinced that you would be there for her afterwards.

Reflecting on Brynn’s lesson later, I thought of my grief journey after my mother died two years ago. I would often say out loud, “I miss my Mom!” and then cry in mournful remembrance. Recently, my pain and sadness in remembering my mother have transitioned to nostalgia and love. Brynn’s big girl moment was a meaningful illustration for me. In Brynn’s adjustment to living life, having fun, and being reassured that her mother will be there at the end, I found an illuminating example of how to cope with my own sadness.

Using Brynn’s big girl words of confident hope, I prayed similar words to God: I don’t miss my Mom! I know that I will see her again later – in heaven.

Brynn’s Mom, thank you so much for the gift of letting your sweet daughter teach me a lesson about eternal life and God’s reassurance.

[Originally posted January 2015]