Candy Cane Christmas: Sweet and Short Christmas Devotionals
[Editor’s Note: This is our opening Christmas guest blog by past guest blogger Hailey Hudson.Welcome to Diva Christmas 2017! This my fourth year putting this on (I love Christmas) and this year, I wanted to make the series a little more do-able for everyone. I get that December is very busy, so I put out the theme as “short and sweet” and asked writers to keep submissions to under 400 words. I was so blown away by the submissions and got more than any other year!! I chose Hailey’s beautiful devotional, Candy Cane Christmas, as our opener of this special Christmas series because it contained everything I imagined for the series — even down to literal candy. Here’s more information about the series.]
Candy Cane Christmas
Every year, we buy a box of candy canes and hook them one by one onto our wooden snowman candy cane holder that sits on the kitchen counter for the whole Christmas season. The candy canes look pretty, and I’m sure they taste delicious, but I couldn’t really tell you. That’s the funny thing: although we do this every year, I’m always so busy running from work to church to Christmas parties that I don’t think I’ve ever actually eaten one.
There’s a bit of controversy about where the candy cane originated, but most people think that a choirmaster from the late 17th century had trouble keeping his young choir in line. He decided to give them candy sticks to keep them quiet—but not just any candy. The choirmaster asked the town’s candy maker to create candy sticks that were bent like a shepherd’s staff so that the children could think about how Jesus was their Good Shepherd as they sat quietly and licked their candy. His idea quickly spread throughout Europe. A couple of hundred years later, red stripes appeared on the candy canes, reminding us that Jesus came to earth as a baby at Christmas for a very important reason: to have his blood shed on the cross at Easter.
So this year, I’m not just going to leave the candy canes on our snowman holder all December. I’m going to take one off, peel off the wrapper, sit down, and eat it. I’m going to think about not only the tiny baby in a dusty barn, but the man He grew up to be. I’m going to think about the Good Shepherd who stopped at nothing to bring me into his fold. I hope you will, too.
Hailey Hudson is a young author, blogger, and freelance writer from the mountains of north Georgia. She loves softball, Harry Potter, and her beagle puppy, Sophie. Follow along as she pursues careers in writing and children’s ministry by following her blog, Facebook, or Instagram.
