I realized this holiday season that I never once experienced Christmas blues! What a nice feeling! I always loved Christmas growing up. What child doesn’t? I recall coming home from college one Christmas and--upon seeing my home town festooned with Christmas lights—reflecting on how magical Christmas made me feel.
Somewhere along the way, I lost that feeling. It was like the old 60’s song that bemoans a dying romance with the phrase, “The thrill is gone.” I still enjoyed aspects of the holiday season—reflecting on the Christmas message, exchanging gifts with family, going out to see the lights, baking, cooking holiday dinners. But it just wasn’t the same and I couldn’t get the magic back.
I regained a little of the magic when—after 11 years of childlessness—we adopted our son and later adopted our daughter. Making Christmas special for them added a new dimension for me. Still, I kind of longed for that old time warm fuzzy feeling. Finally, I told myself: “I feel what I feel. I accept that.” That was freeing. I was free to enjoy special moments—like our tradition of making gingerbread cookies together—instead of grasping for that something else. But it saddened me to notice that sometimes I felt a let down when Christmas ended. It was like: "I forgot to watch Christmas specials and now it's over!" Or "There was so much shopping and wrapping and it took only moments to exchange gifts!" Or even "It's been busy; I'm glad it's over."
Eventually, I realized that too much preparation interfered with my enjoyment of the holiday season. I came to this enlightenment a few years ago when our daughter, Corina came home from college for Thanksgiving. The next day, she suggested that we decorate the tree. “I’m kind of tired of getting that old tree out each year,” I answered. (We have a fake tree because of Tom’s allergies.) “It’s a lot of work to decorate and a lot of work to put it all away.”
“Oh, we’ll do it!” she offered. Andy and his wife Casey chimed in, “Yes, we’ll do it!” Soon the tree was up and Christmas decorations claimed the windowsills, the table, and any other available space. A month later, I began to put the decorations away. I looked at Corina (home again from college), Andy, and Casey as they relaxed. I snapped: “I hate decorating! I hate putting it all away!” They leaped up from the couch and began helping me.
That was the beginning of me giving myself permission to delete Christmas preparations. One year it was the newsletter. Then a lot less baking took place. We didn’t need extra calories calling out to us anyway. I still had some preparations; the difference was that I chose which ones were the most important to me. I chose this year to bake gingerbread cookies for old time’s sake, but I assigned the task of decorating them to our grand daughter Faith with the help of her Aunt Corina. I even gave away our tree and its decorations to Andy and Casey.
When the last gift was unwrapped on Christmas Day and the turkey dinner was eaten, it hit me: There’s no let down! And I realized, “After all, Christmas isn’t over.” It came to me then that Christmas is not the celebration of a one-time event. It is a beginning. We celebrate the plan of salvation and the future that God has planned for us, none of which would be possible if Jesus hadn’t come into our world. Christmas is not over! And I enjoy it more than ever!
