Christmas

I am ready for Christmas. This is the first year in many that we didn't have to wait until Christmas eve to get our presents, although, we still don't have our tree up. It's been busy, there is just so much to do. I used to get quite overwhelmed, my stomach would knot up and I would feel like I could never get it all done. Things would weigh on me. I have learned a little over the years. Now, I know that I am not going to get it all done, accept it, get done what you can. I won't break my back trying to finish everything, and once in a while I make myself leave something undone just for practice. I like to tie up loose ends, but as soon as I think I have them all tied up I find another one. I also have accepted that it's ok to scale back one's plans, what REALLY needs to happen, what am I doing because I want to, versus what am I doing because I think I should, or someone thought it was a good idea or that I SHOULD.

I think it's odd that people spend so much time getting ready for Christmas, for the day to come, and as soon as it is over, it's done, that's it, fini. The stores are already putting away the Christmas stuff and putting it on sale, it's done before it's here. That is one thing I enjoy about the liturgical season of Christmas, it is truly a season, not just a day. The church I go to now isn't liturgical, and so there isn't the sense of season that we had in the Episcopal church, but I see that they hold Christ near all the year long, it isn't about one big day, everyday is special when God is there. Both are good ways, one is not better than the other. In the secular world however, there is is huge build up to a day that for a lot of people isn't about the coming of Christ in to the world as a baby, it's about selling, and when the selling stops, Christmas stops. Fooey on them.

I want it to be more reflective and less hurried, even frenzied. There is such pressure to meet some expectation of the "Holiday Season", so little actual reflecting gets done. So this year I am trying my darndest to keep the pace down to a slower frenzy, to think about what it means and to encourage my kids to think about what it means. I love the holidays, winter, I just hate the business.