Don’t get sick in December. Don’t even get sick in November–that’s when my cold started, and it didn’t really end until around December 18. Ughh!
I love Christmas. I love all the lights and cheerful decorations that carry my through this terribly dark month of the year. I love putting out my own decorations. I love shopping for my loved ones. I love decorating the Christmas tree, making Christmas ornaments, and baking decorated sugar cookies and my dear friend Nancy’s gingerbread cookies with my daughter and granddaughters. And I love remembering why I celebrate in the first place–because our God loves us so much he came down to earth to rescue us that very first Christmas.
However, much of what I love about the season takes time, energy, and planning–all of which I was rather short on this year.
My big Christmas tree never got put up, instead I brought home the little tree I use in my classroom each year.
The ornament crafting party my daughter planned for her and I and the girls had to be postponed twice, and ultimately cancelled.
I forgot where I had stashed the gifts I bought for my husband and so had to frantically shop the last few days before Christmas, only to find the bag of books I had bought him hidden under my desk this morning!
And yet…Christmas eve with my parents, children, and grandchildren was still delightful. Worship and singing Christmas songs that night at church was still wonderful, and my husband was happy enough with what I had managed to find for him even before I discovered the bag of books this morning.
Don’t get sick in December, but if you do, don’t fret. Nothing can change the true joy of Christmas, nothing can surpass the very first gift of Christmas–God’s own son, and no one who loves you will love you any the less if your gifts are wrapped a little more haphazardly than usual or all the decorations are not up. Relax. Because of God’s great gift none of us has to be perfect.
Anyone wanting to share thoughts on their own massively disorganized Christmas, I would be happy to commiserate with you. Just comment here.
P.S. Now that I’m healthy again and have completed the massive organization project I had going on in the fall, I am eager to get back to blogging. You can look forward to more cool quotes, writing ideas, and musings on embracing a literate lifestyle. Meanwhile, I wish you holiday cheer!
Story, as it turns out, was crucial to our evolution…. Story is what enabled us to imagine what might happen in the future, and so prepare for it—a feat no other species can lay claim to…. Story is what makes us human, not just metaphorically but literally. Recent breakthroughs in neuroscience reveal that our brain is hardwired to respond to story; the pleasure we derive from a tale well told is nature’s way of seducing us into paying attention to it.
Debby Zigenis-Lowery's Literate Lives 