Protestant Mary

Is there room for Mary in the Protestant church?  This is a question that has been on my mind for a long time.  It comes and goes with conversations I have with other Christians.
Shouldn't there be room for Mary in our hearts?  Shouldn't we have a good healthy love for her and see her as special?  I'm not talking about venerating her.  I'm talking about deep love and respect.
We tend as Protestants to be a little afraid of Mary.  We take her out every December, and put her on the creche.  We talk about her being Jesus' mother, see her riding on a donkey (not in the Bible), giving birth in a stable.  We might even hear a sermon about how the angel Gabriel came and told her that Jesus was to be born and that she said yes she'd be His mother.  But by January she's back in the box with the other remembrances of His birth.  Is that right and correct?  
I think this behavior is a direct backlash against the Catholic church's veneration (there's that word again) of her.
How about we just take a little peek at Mary for a minute.  We won't worship her, or make her a co-mediatrix (co-redeemer).  We will simply take a look at her instead of being afraid to talk about her too much.
Mary was chosen out of all...think about that for a minute...ALL of the women who have ever lived past, present or future, to be the mother of Jesus Christ, the Son of God...God Incarnate.  God chose her to be His mother.  He had to trust her above all other women who have ever lived.  He must have loved her, and trusted her very, very much and seen something amazing in her.
She talked with an angel...face to face...knowing he was an angel.  This was also not just any angel (if there is such a thing as an ordinary angel) this was Gabriel who "stands in the presence of God"!  Can you imagine.  He is one very important angel.  God sent this special angel, to speak to this amazingly special woman and tell her that she was going to give birth to the Son of God!  She didn't argue or question...other than to ask how it was possible that she should give birth since she was a virgin...she simply said in essence God's will be done.
After this she went to her cousin Elizabeth's house, the mother of John the Baptist.  Scripture says that when John heard her voice (from the womb) he lept within her.  Then Mary was quoted in what we now call the Magnificat ~ or the Song of Mary.  It is the stringing together of scripture from all over the Old Testament.  This woman who knew her Bible...who had internalized the word of God...would give birth to the Word of God!
I could continue to describe the life of Mary.  The things we know, and the things we don't....such as the first time Jesus appeared to her after He was raised from the dead.  This is a reunion we are not allowed to see in scripture.  It must have been one of the most heart rending reunions ever to happen on this earth.  Imagine seeing your son beaten to a pulp, tortured and murdered in the most horrible and humiliating way possible.  Then three days later have Him suddenly there with you, as you are grieving.  That alone is something that should be meditated on.
I've often heard it said by Catholics that Mary "brings us" to Christ.  For me, as a mother, that is in a way true.  She makes me see Him in a different light.  She makes me see Him through the prism of a mother to a Son and vice-vera.  I know the feelings I have for my own beloved son, and can imagine how they felt about each other.
So is there reason for us as Protestants to love and respect Mary?  I think so.  She is the Mother of Jesus...who was God. 
Do you have a place in your heart for Mary?  Not just as a fellow "Sister in Christ", as I had a friend say to me recently, but as the mother of God, chosen of all the other women who ever lived.  The person He most likely loved above all others during His earthly lifetime and quite possibly beyond.  For if you believe that Christ's followers go to heaven when they die, you must believe that she is there with Him, again not as an equal, but as His mother.  Surely that is enough for us to view her in a very special way.  
So yes, I think there is (and should be) room for Mary in our hearts as Protestants.  Not to pray to, not to worship, but to think about and hold in our hearts...not just at Christmas, but all year.