I can feel the angst building every November. The holiday season from Thanksgiving to New Year’s makes me unbelievably happy, but there’s something that happens right in the middle — right around Christmas.
Thanksgiving is simple and wonderful.
New Year’s is just — so — new. I love the freshness January 1st brings even though it’s really just another day.
I adore Christmas too, but if I let it, December can leave me feeling unfinished, unworthy, and unprepared.
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What if I don’t focus on the right things in myself and for my kids this Christmas season?
What if my plans to do some fun crafts or bake some cookies to share with neighbors and friends bomb again this year? My aims are always much higher than my reality.
What if I can’t find anything fun to give my children?
I finally have a mantle in this new house, how do I capture some simple beauty up there instead of it looking like Macy’s came in and left behind a gaudy, glittery explosion?
And what about Advent? I’d really like to be committed to intentionally walking through Advent this year with my family. Not the pieced-together attempts at keeping up a daily reading plan like in the past.
What if I get it all wrong? What if it’s not meaningful at all and all my kids see is materialism and the ugly side of Christmas in our culture?
I know what you’re thinking — “Amanda. Goodness, just rest your mind and relax. Jesus doesn’t need your Christmas mantle and your forced Advent readings.”
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I know those things. You know those things. But don’t we still let our thoughts go there anyways?
It’s super easy to point out wayward thinking in someone else. But don’t we all let our thoughts wander into the faulty December mindset that says we’re somehow unfinished, unworthy, and unprepared?
