Hang the Lights

Put up the tree and hang the lights

Christmas is drawing near

Gather round that festive table

With your loved ones dear

Some years bring on an empty seat

A missing presence makes us ache

Tears are shed around that table

The traditions don’t feel the same

The lights don’t shine as brightly

The tree doesn’t bring us cheer

They’ve become a painful reminder

Of someone no longer here

We need good tidings to remind us

Of where these loved ones live

Far from this gray and earthly cold

In Heaven’s peaceful bliss

Lift up your voice, let praises ring

Our Savior now is near

Gathered round that Heavenly table

Are all His children dear

There is no need for light there

His glory shines brighter than the sun

It warms the faces of our loved ones

In Jesus, victory is won

So this year again, let’s hang the lights

Let them remind us of those we love

And the seats beside them at His table

In our eternal Home above.

Mom and Dad,

Your kids’ gift to you this year is an outdoor Christmas lights installation. We hope you enjoy these lights and that they remind you of Grandpa Groen, all the loved ones we miss during this season, and the joy we have in looking forward to one day joining them in eternity. We love you very much! Merry Christmas! 

-Justin, Vanessa & family

-Darren, Kelsey & family

-Jordan, Nicole & family

-Shane

-Jamie

For Christmas 2023, some of my siblings came up with the idea to gift my parents an outdoor Christmas lights installation. It has been a number of years since my parents have dared to venture out onto the steep roof of their house to hang the Christmas lights. This was an especially sad thing for my mom; she loved having Christmas lights up on her house every year. The reason is because my Grandpa Groen always loved Christmas lights and made a point of hanging lights on the bushes outside his farmhouse in Minnesota every December. My mom sent me an excerpt of his journal recently, one of the very last entries:

"...we are eternally grateful that we could instruct our children in the fear of the Lord, and hope and pray our grandchildren will also appreciate those Christian values. Christmas season is fast approaching, will have to get our outside bushes decorated, which isn't too hard, and enjoy the Christmas season."

Seeing this entry in his handwriting made me think of how precious that sheet of paper is for our family now, knowing his hands were once warm on that page, writing of the love he had for his children and grandchildren. Those hands once folded in prayer that we would walk in the ways of the Lord. Those hands once decorated the bushes outside his family's home with Christmas lights to enjoy the season of celebrating his Savior's birth. And now those hands are lifted in praise around the throne of that same Savior, in glory.

He passed away 21 years ago; all the Christmas seasons that have come and gone since then have not been the same for my grandma, my mom and her siblings, and all of our family. With the festive season comes an ache, a sadness marked by his empty seat around the table. It became difficult for my mom to bring herself to hang the lights those first few years at Christmas after he was gone. But through the years, the outdoor lights shining on my mom's house always made our family think of Grandpa Groen.

Because of this, it was a special gift for Mom to see the lights installed on her house a few weeks ago. My dad assured us that we didn't need to get him a separate gift; it was a gift for him just to see the joy it brought Mom - some of the joy of Christmas that left with Grandpa all those years ago. Justin and Vanessa asked me if I would write a poem about lights to give to Mom when they told her about the installation, and all I could think about was Grandpa Groen; about how the festive season of Christmas is so often colored with grief, with missing those loved ones that no longer sit around the table. Some years the lights seem so dim. I wanted Mom to see the lights on her house this year and be reminded again that, because of our dear Savior's birth, we can see past Grandpa's empty seat at our family's earthly table to the place he now occupies in Heaven. Because Christ so greatly humbled Himself and came to this earth to suffer and die for us, we know we have a place in Heaven at His table. We know that one day, we too will have a final Christmas season here in this cold and sinful world, a final year to hang the lights to celebrate the Light of the world, Emmanuel. One day, we too will join that Heavenly multitude of His children, of our loved ones, and feel His glory shining more brightly than the sun on our faces... for all eternity.