I pondered in the stillness, cuddled on the cushions of my white couch. It was late October and Christmas felt just around the corner. This year I determined to keep Christmas centered on Christ. As I gazed out the window, I briefly recalled Christmases past….
I remember the Christmas when I spent dozens of hours creating two twin quilts for my toddler boys. It started as an act of love, but as the days turned into weeks, and my boys watched movies while I painstakingly picked out stitches, measured endless yards of fabric, and hummed that little sewing machine for all it was worth, I realized how very much I disliked sewing and how very much time I was not spending playing with my little boys. It broke my heart and I vowed to never repeat that season.
Another Christmas, guilt consumed me because with all the festive traditions of cookie-making, light-seeing, gift-giving, and Christmas-caroling, I couldn’t keep up. I thought I should do all of these amazing traditions and I over-packed our days like a too-small gift box. Most of the well-intentioned activities I had planned fell by the wayside. I felt like a failure, and I promised myself that a too-busy Christmas wouldn’t happen again.
Last Christmas I felt stirrings in my heart to make the season memorable and joyful. But discouragement and discontent crept into the corners of my heart and all I could think about was how my walls were the wrong color, my decor wasn’t fitting, and how my house didn’t feel like home. This was the worst Christmas of all.
But this year, I vowed, this year would be different. Despite our crazy autumn packed to the brim, Christmas glimmered off in the distant December with a promise of hope.
To read the rest of my post and discover how I am intentionally creating more joy & peace in our Christmas, take a stroll over to Simply For Real, where I am guest posting today.
