It’s Just A Mug

In August, we moved from our home of twenty-two years.  We now live in a house that is one-third the square footage of our previous house.  Obviously, we had to downsize our stuff.  We had to give stuff away, sell stuff, and decide what stuff to keep.  None of that is hard for me.  I have never been tied to my possessions… my stuff.  I can give away and/or sell as quickly as I can buy.  It’s just stuff.  

When it was time to pack up the kitchen, I knew it would be the most difficult to figure out what would fit in our new house.  We were going from 25+ cabinets to eight. One weekend, I did the first round of give-aways.  Our kids came over and took what they wanted.  Then a few friends came over to help, and we gave stuff to them.  We sold some stuff.  Most of it was given to Goodwill.  We had so many mugs- almost fifty!  Most of them were given to us and the rest were from places we have traveled.  We decided we could each keep four. That’s eight out of 50!  Yikes!  Of all the things in our kitchen, the mugs were the hardest for me to let go of.  They were just mugs, but there is just something about a favorite mug or a mug full of memories.  

I can only think of a few things I wish I had kept. One of them was a mug. I know… crazy! This mug, exactly like the one pictured here (online google image) was given to me by a student about ten years ago, and it was from Cracker Barrel (price tag was left on the bottom of the mug). It wasn’t expensive, and I don’t even remember which student gave it to me. So, there was no sentimental value. BUT… it made a difference during the Christmas Season. I chose to drink from this mug almost exclusively during the holidays.

Each time I drank from it, I read Jesus is the Reason for the Season.  Each time, I remembered…

I actually cried a few days ago when I wanted that mug and realized it didn’t make the cut. I remember looking at it for a long time before I put it in the give away pile and thought since I only used it a few weeks out of the year, it was a good one to say goodbye to.  I was wrong.  I miss reading it and remembering… Jesus is the Reason for the Season!

Jesus IS the reason for this season we are in, and I guess sometimes just a mug was the reminder I needed. 

It’s just a mug, or was it?

I think it was more than just a mug.  So, guess what I did?  I went to Cracker Barrell, hoping to find another one, but they did not have one.  Now, I’m on a hunt.  Maybe I’ll go over to Goodwill and see if they still have it.  Or maybe I’ll head over to Hobby Lobby this week and see what they have because I’m convinced it was more than just a mug!