Advent

Still reading Ann Voskamp's blog and loving it! Randy and I have been talking/praying seriously now for a couple of months about what we want Christmas to be this year for our family. Every year we say that we want to do "this or that" differently, but somehow we never do. But this year is already different. We really are not rushing around and we really are reading the Word more and we really are thinking about giving more than we have in the past. I guess if I could summarize what we are seeking, I would say it like Ann Voskamp said it:

The Christ Child in the manger, He takes on the garment of fragile flesh to release us from being beasts of burden.

I think of this often, when I feel Christmas as a weight, burden that I'm sagging under for weeks. Whenever Christmas begins to burden, it's a sign that I've taken on something of the world and not of Christ.

Christmas comes to us like the Cross -- asking nothing of us but embrace. So I lay down the expectations and the efforts, the perfectionism and performance, and I simply wait for His coming. His blood does all the work. He shed it to release us from burden -- so we embrace a peaceful Advent...

My favorite line is "Whenever Christmas begins to burden, it's a sign that I've taken on something of the world and not of Christ." My goal this year is to actually enjoy the One who Christmas is about and to stop feeling the dissatisfaction that comes when I envision some idealized Christmas that never happens. So my favorite memories so far (here on Dec 5th): last Friday p.m. we celebrated the upcoming season by watching a Christmas movie and decorating slice and bake cookies. It was a huge mess with lots of laughter and sweetness! Haven't seen every person in our family that content at the same time in a long time! :) Last night we went to a "hands-on" Bethlehem in Waxahachie. We walked through the "Bethlehem" marketplace, etc. with the Roman soldiers, Mary and Joseph, live animals, the wise men with their REAL camels. Very cool (literally - it was in the 20's. What kind of mother takes her 3-week-old outside in THAT kind of weather. A really tired and delirious one who doesn't want to be a stick-in-the-mud)! I wouldn't have gone last p.m., but we went with some friends and as I was waffling about whether or not to go, Ami says to me that we need to go and make a memory. Well, Ami and I ended up staying in this beautiful little church sanctuary most of the night with our babies, but our kids loved it! Glad I didn't procrastinate, waiting for the perfect non-20-degree-night to go. I'm slowly starting to figure out that the "perfect" moment is the one I'm in. And every moment IS enjoyable because He is in every one. May you enjoy the only One who is able to bring you joy and may you experience His weightless grace and not bow under the burden that the world would try and tell you is "normal" for this time of year.