Are You Ready for Christmas?

Grant in his last Christmas Concert as part of the SR High School Jazz Band - Second from the right-tenor sax

We went to the High School concert last night where Grant played in the jazz band...and it was beautiful!  The songs were all about love, joy, peace and all the quiet blessings of a silent night...I loved it!  However, for as much smooth, jazzy, rejoicing as we heard, my mind couldn't calm down.  The stress of the season kept shooting darts at my soul, reminding me of all the things I still haven't done to get ready for Christmas.

"Are you ready for Christmas?"  "Are you ready for Christmas?"  "Are you ready for Christmas?"  I... augh...c'mon!  Do you really want to know?  The answer is:  "of course NOT!"

How do you ever get "ready for Christmas"?  What does it even mean????

Does it mean:
*Did you buy all your presents (even the ones you forgot)?
*Did you decorate the house?
*Did you bake a million cookies?
*Did you mail all your cards?
*Did you finish binge-watching holiday movies in your favorite streaming source?
*Did you get all your deliveries yet?
*Did you wrap everything?
*Did you remember to begin the thawing of your ham?
*Did you buy all the ingredients for the sweet potato casserole?
*What about the pies?

The list is endless...and it stands in front of my eyes accusing me...reminding me again of my inadequacy as a wife, as a mother, as a homemaker, as a follower of Christ???

I mean, really...how many Christmas cards did Mary actually get to mail out? Did she bake any cookies? Did she have poinsettia-themed blankets to wrap Baby Jesus?  Did she get around to buying the perfect present for Joseph?  Did she get matching pajamas for the family? Did Joseph get on the ladder to hang the twinkling lights around the stable?

I know...it is very easy to become cynical about the season's traditions.  But, for a person like me: anxiety-prone, low-self-esteem, beat-myself-over-the-head-because-of-my-feelings-of-inadequacy-type of personality, it is important to keep things under perspective.

IT. IS. OK!

It is OK if I didn't get to do all the things that society/pinterest/facebook/instagram/friends/family tell you, you need to do in order to have a full-Christmas cheer.  I am adopting the attitude of making Christmas a low-stress, more personal experience.  I am trying to accept the fact that it is pretty much impossible for me to make, write, mail Christmas cards.  I am trying to accept the fact that 2 dozen sugar cookies for the boys to decorate the day before Christmas is the most I can handle.  I am trying to accept that online shopping is my best friend this time of the year.  I am learning to accept that buying a pie someone else made is perfectly OK.  I am learning to accept that whatever decorations I do manage to put up are all we need.  And most of all, I am praying the Holy Spirit teaches me that the only thing I really need to get ready for is to set time aside to truly seek the presence of My Lord, the Great I AM, the Emmanuel, God With Us!

May this Christmas be bright and may we all have a silent night so we can hear the still, small voice of Our Savior, born among us, present forever!  Amen!

Are you ready for Christmas?