This matters to me. Creating a beautiful home during Christmas isn't vanity—it's ministry. When people enter your home and see that you've prepared it with care, they feel seen. They feel like their coming meant something to you. They feel loved. 🎄

So I've decided to learn. Not from decoration magazines or online tutorials, but from the women in my family who know how to do this. My mother, my grandmother, the older women from church. I'm asking them to teach me the way people used to learn—by standing beside them, watching, helping, asking questions.

I want to understand the principles behind what makes a home feel festive and welcoming. Not just the what, but the why. Why do we put lights in the window? Why do we arrange branches in certain ways? Why do certain colors belong together? There's wisdom in these traditions, and I don't want to lose it.

I'm also realizing that creating a beautiful home is a form of prayer. When you're arranging things with intention, when you're thinking about how to make people feel comfortable and joyful, you're doing spiritual work. You're saying with your hands: "You matter. Your presence here matters." 💫

The women in my family don't talk much about what they do. They just do it. But I see now that their quiet work of creating warmth and beauty is actually the foundation that everything else rests on. I want to be like that too. 🕯️

Cleopatra