Christ-mas...

Chapter 1

She put her kids down after a weekend of Thanksgiving, Black Friday, a Saturday full of Christmas decorating, and Church that morning. So, as her body hugged the couch and her muscles melted into the cushions, her phone found her face. As though it were a sport, her thumb ran a marathon. Scrolling from one website to another as the lights on the Christmas tree bathed her in the holiday spirit. Her brain felt overwhelmed as the sales yelled at her, flashing in multiple colors every 30 seconds. Her brain felt cluttered with information and things she felt she should purchase, wanting to take advantage of the weekend's lower prices. After several minutes of no communication with her husband and at least 50 tabs open with thousands of dollars of items in her carts and nothing purchased, she moved from shopping to her email. A mistake. Over a thousand emails sat waiting to announce the one-of-a-kind sale from every website. Places she didn’t even know had her email. Time sifted through her fingers like the powdered sugar in her pantry, ready for the cookie recipe awaiting its destiny on the counter. There was a sense of warmth that this cold season brought. A feeling of cozy comfort, but behind the decorations was an IV pumping stress and a feeling of discontent straight to her.

Chapter 2

She turned her phone off after a quick text to her niece and grabbed a glass of water, evading the eyes of the cookie recipe. Curling up next to her husband, she turned on How the Grinch Stole Christmas. A classic. Nothing like a Christmas movie to welcome the season. Gosh, how she loved this season. The crafts, the decorations, the music, the gifts, the way her children lit up, it was all exciting to her. But, she felt a little dull the past few years. Like something was out of place. Ten minutes into the movie, her relaxed reminder on her watch was telling her to take a breath. And when she did, she noticed that her entire body was tensed up. Her husband looked over at her with a question looming between his eyebrows. She brushed it away and smiled at him. A front for the stress operation that was in full force in her mind. The way the Whos in the movie rushed around buying gift after gift, one-upping one another, and shoving others around. No wonder the Grinch stayed away and didn’t like Christmas. Even Cindy Lou Who was confused. Another ten minutes went by. She hopped up from the couch, “That’s it, I can’t watch this anymore.” Her hands flew up in a surrender position. 

Her husband just chuckled. “What do you mean, we are only twenty minutes in?” He looked confused as the now-empty space beside him grew cold.

“I mean, this movie is stressing me out!” She paced in front of the TV.

“Why, you’ve seen it before, you know how it ends.” He was still laughing. Gosh, why wasn’t he getting it? Didn’t he feel it too? Hm, actually, he probably didn’t - disregard that last question. 

“When did Christmas start feeling so intense?” She slumped into the couch as if she were a stone tossed into a river. 

Her husband kissed the top of her head. “What do you mean?” Her body unintentionally melted into his.

Chapter 3 

“I feel like all this holiday has turned into is buy buy buy. Everything is an ad. I have emails from stores I didn’t even know were stores. The kids are constantly throwing out ‘Oh, I want this, I want that. And you always hear, ‘Jesus is the reason for the season,’ but do they mean it? Well, honestly, I can’t really answer that because I don’t really know, but I feel like we have all turned into those greedy little Whos. And this holiday is all about having to buy new lights because we buy the lights we can afford, but the companies make the cheap lights only last a single year… rude…and we have these feelings of obligation. Turning something that is so exciting and full of fun and generosity into demands and greed. Like, where is the Lord? Where is remembering why we celebrate? Where is knowing that the reason we give gifts is to honor the Lord, as the three wise men did at Jesus’s birth. And to slow down and be excited to spend time with one another, be generous, be grateful for all the amazing things that we already have. Gosh, I just feel overwhelmed…oh, and don’t even get me started on aesthetic Christmases. Do I want mine to be pretty, sure, but also come on…where did the cheerful and homey Christmas go? ” At this point, she was standing and pacing, talking a mile a minute. When the words stopped flowing from her mouth, she folded her face into her hands. “And that, good sir, is the end of my rant, thank you and goodnight.” She did an awkward loop with her arms and snapped as she pointed her fingers at her man, patiently listening. One arm slung over the back of the couch while the other remained silent on his lap. There was an ever so slight tilt to his lips, forcing his dimple to work overtime through her monologue. She dropped her arms and slouched an inch as she looked at him, back lit by the TV. 

“Well, you're too crazy to be stressed. So, let’s do something about it.” He was teasing her, but that was simply wrapping to an abundance of seriousness. There was no quick fix, but he was right. It was up to them to prevent themselves from being dragged into consumerism, selfishness, and forgetting why we celebrate this season to begin with.

Chapter 4 

Christmas is the closest thing we will experience to what Hollywood would describe as magic. Delicate lace, constructed of ice crystals, floats down from the sky in their individual, unique shape. Leaving the world cast in a glittery silence. Songs, universally known, are sung down streets and heard as coffee shop doors close behind our warm hands, cradling hot chocolate. Lights, lines houses, reminding us once again that no matter how hard the dark tries to prove its power, light will always win. Ovens warm our homes, and neighbors become friends over the smell of cookies invading the air. Dancers leap to the tracks we all know by heart. And generosity is tied in a bow resting peacefully under a tree, symbolizing life and hope ordained in Christ’s light and symbols of the Star of David. We allow ourselves to become wrapped up in the world's celebration of Christmas, but forget why we celebrate to begin with. We remember and remind ourselves that this season is about Jesus’s birth, which is true, but find ourselves stressed and exhausted. Folding ourselves in with greed and lost time. There is so much to be found in the season. Light, hope, kindness, joy, beauty, camaraderie, generosity, family, creativity, but beyond all that, the most important thing is fixing our eyes on the King. The one who came down as a baby, born in a manger, to endure the world so that he could one day die for our sins, living in a sinful world that did nothing but berate Him so that He could have a relationship with us. How lucky are we that we can celebrate this beautiful holiday! Because there is no Christmas without Christ. 

I love this season, but know that it can be a lot. It is important to remain focused on Him through all the amazing elements that come with it. Kids see magic in everything, and this holiday is one that sits high on the list. As adults, we have the power to create that magic, but also the responsibility to protect them from the ways of greed and selfishness that weave their hand into those who are vulnerable. I hope that you feel the beauty and joy of Christmas this season and let go of what the world throws at us. Hope you had a great week and have an even better weekend. Don’t forget to follow on Instagram, share this with someone, subscribe, and let me know what you thought of this post! Thanks for reading, Allie-cats.

• Dru Allie