Where Are You Christmas?

Good morning!

I woke up this morning and literally gasped as I stepped out of bed.  Right above my nightstand is a window and I looked out to a world covered with freshly fallen, undisturbed SNOW!  A smile lit up my face as I paused at every window on my groggy stumble downstairs for coffee.  I just wanted to take in this first snow in our new home.  It's so much more magical in the early morning, still dark hours, with not a footprint to be seen.  I was actually tempted to wake up the kids so they could share in this magic, but, as it was 5:15am I decided the magic could wait.  The magic for them will be donning their snow pants, boots, and coats to try out those new sleds anyway.  As my coffee brewed I stared out the window and thanked the Lord for this beautiful Sunday blessing.

 This post isn't the typical December Daily post (that will come later ;) but instead an observation.  This time of year I have noticed 2 extremes.  The first being Christmas crazy of shopping lists, and hottest toys, and Pinterest projects, and elves doing back flips, and "Christmas lists please"...."longer lists please".  Now don't get me wrong I've been shopping with the best of them and our elf is perched on the chandelier waiting to share supplies for the kids to "spread cheer" by making Christmas cards (we're not sending a photo card out this year....gasp!).

The second extreme is the bombardment of blog posts, Pinterest pins, and Facebook shares expressing how horrible and commercialized the season has become.  I'm not disagreeing here either (with the commercialized part, there's nothing "horrible" about Christmas in my opinion).  I've been as frustrated as the next person with the endless lists and the never enough.  With the ever more challenging job of instilling the true spirit of the season in our kids and keeping their hearts in the right place.  Lets be honest it's tough to instill a giving nature in them when the most asked question they receive throughout the month of December is what's on YOUR Christmas list, and they're greeted with a pile of presents at every turn (I'm so guilty here, sigh).

But here's my opinion on the matter (because I know you're all dying to hear it) for the past few years I've struggled with HOW to break free of the commercialism, HOW to instill meaning into my kids' hearts.  Asking myself, am I ruining them with Lego Advent calendars and candy canes? HOW do I put the Christ back in Christmas.

 I was pondering these very thoughts yesterday as I set out for a morning run.  I've been struggling these past few weeks with keeping my focus in the right place (me? struggle with focus? shocker), and a blogging friend recently posted her enjoyment of Christian music.  I challenged myself to flip my Pandora from 'Country Fitness' to 'Today's Christian Hits' just for this run, and you know what it wasn't bad, not what I was expecting at all.  Anyway, as I was running I began to notice Nativity scenes placed in people's yards and the thought occurred to me.  You don't have to put the Christ back in Christmas, Christ was never gone. It's not our job to "restore Christmas" by looking upon the world with disdain, rolling our eyes at the red cupped 'double mint holiday spice frappuccino (I have no idea if that's a thing), or living in constant turmoil of not enough? too much?" wrong direction?" We just need to seek out Christ.  How do we put the Christ back in Christmas?  We seek Him out!  The lights and tinsel and packages and glittery magic are only bad things if we allow ourselves to be blinded by them.

In fact, I just read the story of the first Christmas to my daycare crew last week.  I began with "why do we celebrate Christmas?" and ALL of my 3 and 4 year olds exclaimed "because it's Jesus' birthday!".  Take heart, through the tinsel and packages, we're getting something right.  After reading the story I was thinking that, yes, we are celebrating the birth of Jesus, but what really struck me was the message of the Angels.  What did they tell the Wise Men and the Shepherds to do?  Seek Him out.  I think the message is the same for us today.  So when we feel ourselves getting Scroogey (obviously a word) and want to condemn the world with disgust for the commercial Christmas, or when we feel overwhelmed and inadequate feeling the do more! buy more! pull, I challenge us all to pause and remind ourselves to seek Him out.  You may be surprised to see how the true meaning of Christmas wasn't so far from our reach after all, if we just take time to look for it.

Yesterday as I was intentionally seeking Him out do you know what I saw?

I saw Nativity Scenes dotting many yards, and was reminded of how Cora expressed that the one on our street was her favorite decoration.  Had I not been seeking Him out I may have only noticed the giant inflatables.

While shopping those commercialized Christmas aisles at Target I saw two teenage girls stop and ask a woman shopping from a motorized shopping cart if they could get something down for her, and then patiently read her product descriptions and price tags.  Had I not been seeking Him out I may have only noticed the advertisements and "SALE" signs.

 I saw my two girls willingly give up their grocery store treat to put money in the red kettle.  Had I not been seeking Him out I may have mindlessly given them their cash and rushed them out the door.

So for me this season, I will be choosing to smile. I will take in ALL the season brings with joy and gratitude.  I will be intentional about seeking Him out.

PS:  If you're looking for a great Advent story to read with your kids, this one is our favorite, and one we've read for years.  It's about a little bear following a star, and the adventures he encounters along the way.

I'll be back later with the more traditional December Daily post ;)