Merry Christmas!
I don’t know about you, but I love this season. I start enjoying our holiday season at the start of Thanksgiving where I shared we love breaking bread with family and friends. Our tradition of opening our home to others has continued through the years and as our children have gotten older, our invitation list has expanded with their friends. The Christmas season is just as special in our home. I remember my sister visiting and watching in awe at all the baking and asking me how do I do it, and my response was it’s not hard, it just takes time. I am reminded that intentional time with family and friends, making memories-it’s not hard, it just takes time.
Every year since the girls were toddlers, we would decorate Christmas cookies with their friends. It starts with me baking over 100 sugar cookies (the recipe has been refined through the years), gathering all the supplies, and making the kitchen cookie decorating proof! I have seen them go through many decorating phases from heavy on sprinkles and icing, to creating unique works of art, to the enduring angry gingerbread man. The house quickly fills with laughter and catching up as they have gone to different schools or created new friend groups. For a short time, in this intentional space, they get to be those toddlers again without a care in the world and just laugh and decorate a few cookies.
This season has been full of hardships for our family and for many of our friends. Yet somehow, none of that diminishes the hope we can always find, especially as we celebrate the birth of our Savior. To say Mary had a difficult time is a large understatement! I could not imagine traveling on the back of any animal when I was pregnant with the girls. A young girl, who answered yes when called, and would soon become the mother of God’s son sent to save the world…no pressure. I know as the days drew near for the birth of the girls I wondered if I was truly ready to be a mom, what if I got it all wrong? I cannot imagine the doubts and questions that must have run through Mary’s mind.
And then it happened, Jesus was born, not in a hospital, but in a manger. Not surrounded by doctors, but animals…and it was perfect.
“While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no quest room available for them…Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying, Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests” (Luke 2:6-14)
This difficult season, that we are thankfully coming out on the other side, could push us to dwell on the negative. Mary could have focused on where she wished she was, her ideal vision of this birth. She could have dwelled on the discomfort she must have felt laying on a bed of hay as she labored. She could have been angered at the requirement to travel in her condition for a census. Instead, she gave birth to our Savior in the humblest of surroundings where you could hear the Angels sing…and she rejoiced!
Things aren’t always ideal, we are not always in the best of places and life sometimes gets so chaotic that we forget to appreciate and enjoy the simplest gifts. What’s your perspective? Do you dwell on the negatives, or do you look forward to where this journey will lead you? Are you overcome with worry about today, or are you prayerful and faithful knowing that as difficult as today may be, there is always a reason to be thankful? Maybe what you’re thankful for today is the sound of laughter of childhood friends that come together for an annual tradition. Maybe what you’re thankful for today is finding time for morning snuggles on winter break from school (that meeting can start at 9 instead of 8-maybe take a vacation day and spend it with your family). Maybe what you're thankful for today is the smell of baking cookies and goodies knowing it will bring a smile to someone once it’s shared.
Today, and everyday, I pray that you make the time to rejoice. I pray that in this season, and in the future, you take time for snuggles, for baking and eating together, for laughter and creation of memories. Life is precious and time can be spent on worry and the negative, but I pray that you silence those thoughts and find your blessings-they are there! I pray that you take the time for one of our other family traditions, and read the Bible on Christmas Eve, read the story of our Savior’s birth and rejoice!
And so it begins…the smell of sugar cookies throughout the house! Merry Christmas!
