The one thing I would like to include is a message from a friend of mine, who gave me permission to use her Facebook post just before Christmas... I will have to add this in after I get onto my actual computer, so check back. The point is: you're frustrated. You are at a breaking point. You're not even close to feeling that Christmas Spirit.... Poor you. Everything's going wrong.... Why? Why? Why!? Christmas won't ever feel happy and cheery.... Have you ever told yourself that? Felt like a God left you out high and dry at the "most wonderful time of the year"? Imagine your most frustrating Christmas times or struggles, then keep reading. When my unfortunate events took place, I remembered her. I wanted to share it before Christmas, but lo, I got too busy. So I will go back, and say what I wanted to say anyway. First, here's an awesome message I'd like share from Knights of Truth Media about Christmas: http://youtu.be/dYCyI3zK-5I
Take a look!
So, preparing for Christmas usually involves just the surface. The decorating, the day after "Thanksgiving", (which Is ironic in a way), the garland the tinsel, the trees, the lights, the red, the blue, the gold, and the silver, the snowmen, need I add the yard blow up things, the wreaths, etc., etc., etc. Usually, I think' that is at the forefront of many minds when it comes to preparing for Christmas...
But, I'd like to propose another way to prepare for this special day. Think of how Our Lady and St. Joseph prepared for Jesus. The bare basics. Then right before His birth, they had to hop on the donkey and head all the way to Bethlehem. How did John the Baptist prepare? He went into the desert and fasted on locusts and honey and prayed before Jesus' ministry officially began. Both of these events seem an awful lot like the picture of sacrifice to me.... Think about it- Mary and Joseph went from door to door- found no place to be warm and comfortable to receive Jesus, and so the place of His holy birth was in the lowest state imaginable. They weren't really "festive" until it was actually happening.... So to speak. And so many of us rush this precious season! The day after--- how many trees do you see on the curb or hear neighbors already put their decor away? Christmas actually lasts 12 days- technically until the Baptism of Christ. So why not enjoy Christmas during Christmas instead of Advent "Coming"? Let's keep Advent a time of waiting as much as you can stand.... Advent is our time to be " preparing" not only on the outside to a point, but spiritually....
Be prayerful. Plan well, so you're not overwhelmed. People go bonkers preparing at Christmastime so everything's perfect, and they wrestle with frustration! Let go- we all try to make it perfect for everyone else, but Christ is the only one who makes it perfect. Be at peace. Like a priest said recently in a homliy I heard: "Be peaceful. Don't kill yourself over Christmas. Funerals are no fun at Christmas." And I know- my great uncles funeral was just this year two days after Christmas. (It wasn't related to stress of the holidays, but either way, it's so sad.)
Ask yourself these things when you begin to think about getting ready for the Holiday (translation- "holy day") ---
Is your home ready to welcome Christ, when he comes to knock on your door? Is it a place that is ready for giving or receiving? Has your home prepared to give what it has joyfully with expecting nothing in return? Are you stressing over all the things that you "have" to do, and not finding joy in it? (I think we all suffer from this one- I know I do- but the point is: we need to change that). Remember why you decorate. For whom you decorate. And then there's this question for many: "Where's my white Christmas!?"
Is your home ready to welcome Christ, when he comes to knock on your door? Is it a place that is ready for giving or receiving? Has your home prepared to give what it has joyfully with expecting nothing in return? Are you stressing over all the things that you "have" to do, and not finding joy in it? (I think we all suffer from this one- I know I do- but the point is: we need to change that). Remember why you decorate. For whom you decorate. And then there's this question for many: "Where's my white Christmas!?"
I love the above one. I just realized the answer to that one this year... I live in NY, so naturally, we expect snow on Christmas like.... Every year. Not always happens. Then we are disappointed, lamenting the idea it doesn't " feel" like Christmas. In all the portrayals of Christmas, we never see snow. I'm talking about the birth. But Christ is your White Christmas. White is a color associated with purity. Make sense? I had to remind myself with all the rain and drizzle this Christmas week, the real First Christmas wasn't probably this snowy winter wonderland. So I encouraged myself and mykids to think as if they were in Bethlehem... It helped!!
Try to remember that Christmas is about spreading " cheer", of course, but whose cheer? Christ's. When our new babies are born, we don't pack up all our baby stuff the next day and go back to the same ol' same ol'.... No! On the contrary, we celebrate for a good week or two! Receiving guests, meals, giving thanks, adjusting to the joy of new, sharing the birth story, and all it entails, maybeincluding how the epidural either worked or not, but in any event, it's not over just like that. If you're a Christian celebrating Christmas for the reason of your salvation, that's one baby story to live out every year the same as you'd do with your own child, I'd think!
We still haven't placed our Wise Men in our manger scene yet, because Epiphany hasn't arrived yet. Baby steps, for a Baby's Christmas story..... Small bits, it takes time!! Keep up that tree! It wouldn't be dying if you waited a little longer to put it up- haha!!! 😀. And you might not be sick of the decorations if you'd waited a little bit longer, too. Let Advent be Advent: recall some self- sacrifices for others, and prepare your hearts for receiving Jesus Christmas Eve, and let Christmas be Christmas, where you live out the joy of His birth, through "Christmas". 😊
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