Rushing Around the Christmas Tree

Blogger managed to pre-publish my Wednesday post on Tuesday.

That REALLY bugged me. See, I am working to post something new(ish) on each day in Advent. And Blogger is messing with my mojo.

But, of course, something good came out of their error. I realized that rushing things is all the vogue this time of year.

We're glad the kids are in school so we can finish Christmas shopping, but anxious for them to be on Christmas break. And when they've been home for a week, we're ready for them to go back to school again!

We're tired of being tired, but we continue to run ourselves ragged by accepting every invitation that comes into our email box, instead of prioritizing and only attending the most important.

We have a hard time saying "no" to the "T" game our eight-year-old wants or the "PG-13" movie our ten-year-old is begging for so we allow them to rush headlong into things their minds aren't prepared to do and see, just to keep the peace and knock one more gift off the list.

We're just in this fast paced, blender of activity. And we don't know where the "off" switch is located.

Hint: it's in your head. That's where you decide what is important this holiday season.

I know I probably sound like a broken record by now, but I think someone out there needs to hear this two-thousand different ways on several different days for this to truly sink in.

And, maybe that someone is ME?!

Or, maybe it is you AND me?!

I don't know for sure, but I do know that I am pained when I hear other people complaining about how busy they are (in a bad way) or see the bags under their children's eyes from one-too-many late nights of unimportant activity or can't schedule lunch with a friend because there is simply too much to do for Christmas during those hours.

This is a time to get slow. Turtle slow. Stand too long in one place and fall over on your side slow.

Maybe that means you Christmas shop all year long instead of the last two weeks before the holiday. Maybe that means you don't buy any presents this year and take a trip with your family. Maybe that means you say no to all but one party.

But, it's time to get slow. Go counter to culture. Stand back and watch everyone else go nutso. Preferably, with a hot chocolate in one hand and a cake ball in the other.

Find the time. Read the story of Christ's birth. Sit in front of a fire. Just relax, now, before the kids are off school and your household duties seem to quadruple in quantity and Christmas is gone and you can't account for anything meaningful you did.

And, by the way, I think this advice was designed for me.

If it helped you, too, I'm grateful.