My sister is once again a guest blogger.
The Christmas greetings were mailed the day after Thanksgiving. Cookies are baked with dough made a month ahead. Gifts for all the principal people in your life were purchased and wrapped by June, carefully tucked away, and you remember where they were hidden. You had the menu, guest list and decorations planned for all your Yuletide events almost as soon as the bells finished ringing in the New Year. From Thanksgiving to New Year’s Day you have little else to do but enjoy your family, share the Christmas cheer with your grumpy neighbor, and watch reruns of It’s a Wonderful Life. If you are human, your holiday season is nothing like this fairytale!
Photo Credit: kevin dooley via Compfight cc
Christmas has become a contest. Not between you and your neighbor, but between you and the home magazines, the Pinterest boards, the party planner books, and even the holiday portraits of how we think Christmas should look. We attempt to satisfy our vision or perception of how Christmas should look, feel, taste, and smell like, but still feel empty and disappointed. We have fooled our senses into thinking that unless Christmas smells like peppermint, tastes like fudge, feels like fur, and looks like freshly fallen snow, Christmas never really came. Unfulfilled expectations cause depression and self-hate that spills over into our relationships with others.
We like to over complicate things. We make to-do lists and to-get lists and to-make lists, then we check them more than twice. We feel like we have to perform or die! We must have a party. We must have piles of treats for all those people who might drop in. We must have hot cocoa with tiny gingerbread houses perched on the lip of each mug above the sea of snowflake-shaped marshmallows. We must watch a “Christmas” movie every night in December. Then, we must not forget to buy trinkets for the baker, barber, banker, butler, butcher, dentist, doctor, dog trainer, financial adviser, fish monger, manicurist, mail carrier, museum curator, massage therapist, psychotherapist, physiotherapist, pet therapist and waste management personnel. See what I mean by overcomplicated?
Simplify and save yourself a great deal of disappointment and heartache. Why do we, as Christians, celebrate Christmas? Compared with the world, we have the Greatest Gift and Bringer of LASTING Joy to celebrate! Focus on the simple gift of life that God gave us in His Only-begotten Son, Jesus. Not only His Son, but also each breath we take is a gift from God. Make the few years we have here on earth matter and spend the time with those you love.
So turn your Pinterest brain off and find joy in the simple things this year, and celebrate the life God has given you!