Really worthless day

I say that, and I don't suppose it was ... but, it shouldn't be celebrated as a day that I grabbed every moment and made it the best moment possible!

The choirs are doing the cantata tomorrow morning and had a dress rehearsal this morning. So, Max and I were up and out of the house before 9 am. I'm incredibly thankful for a vehicle with 4-wheel drive so that we can move around in the snow with no problem. There was a beautiful fresh snowfall happening while we were driving ... light, fluffy stuff. Did my bit at the rehearsal and headed for breakfast at Shirley's Diner. My goodness, but they have the best breakfast food in town! Home again and I sat on my butt, reading interesting stuff on the internet. Max took off to do laundry and I lay down on the couch. Pretty soon, I was out like a light and took a wonderful nap!

I woke up and realized that there was no amount of heat that was going to warm me up. Good heavens! I was cold. And I suffered and I suffered and I suffered. I finally turned the heat up a little higher and it didn't seem to help, so I continued to suffer. I kept complaining about it. I finally grabbed my yummy robe - and within moments I was cookin'!

I finished my Christmas shopping today. I'm proud to say that I have done it all online. I was able to get pretty creative gifts, really great deals and it is all conveniently delivered to my home. Max came up with some rather interesting gifts that he wanted to give to friends, and by golly, I was able to find them, order them and we're done! This was fun! And all in the comfort (or chilly discomfort) of my living room.

There was an online survey I did this week. One of the questions was about the level of stress that I am dealing with throughout the Christmas season. When I was growing up, Advent was one of the worst times of the year. Dad was so stressed out preparing for all of the activities in church, he unloaded at home. It was not pleasant. The closer and closer we got to Christmas eve, the uglier things got. I actually don't have many good feelings about Advent.

Mom probably didn't help his stress level. She was working so hard to make Christmas spectacular for the three of us kids that she was unavailable. She spent hours creating gifts for us, sewing, painting, designing, etc. Dad was a tightwad too. Spending money at Christmas probably drove him crazy. He and mom fought about it a lot. He wanted to be able to do it, but he didn't have much excess and that was just driving him crazy. It would also have been the end of the financial year at the church and he was managing all of that stress.

But, then, Christmas morning finally arrived. Mom put over-stuffed stockings on the ends of our beds at some point in the night. We woke to those knowing that we weren't allowed out of our rooms until mom and dad called for us. They were stuffed with candy and little toys and games, anything to keep us occupied and quiet until mom and dad were ready for us. (have I told you about Carol and the 1 pound Hershey's bar? The silly girl ate the entire thing before we were out of our rooms. Let's just say she didn't make it through Christmas morning without a quick trip or two to the bathroom to purge all of that chocolate.)

The three of us would come flying out of our rooms with our hands clenching some of the fun things from our stockings. There were loads of gifts under the tree, more than we could have imagined. Gifts hanging on the tree from our grandmothers, gifts from congregation members under the tree and Dad in the rocking chair with a Bible in hand. Before we could open gifts, we always read through the Christmas story and then sang a few Christmas carols. I think we were all fine with the reading of the Christmas story, but we prayed for short verses and only a few carols.

Finally we were allowed to start with the gifts. Carol was our Santa. The poor girl couldn't stand it - she had to be moving and going. She began handing out gifts and after every one was distributed around the room, we went around, one by one, opening gifts. Dad slowed it down as much as possible so that we could enjoy the actual unwrapping of the gifts. But, by 10 am, we were all trying to figure out what to do with ourselves.

Advent was difficult, Christmas morning was great. Christmas eve was great. I look back now and am thankful for the traditions that Dad instilled in us and wish that I could have helped alleviate some of his stress. As the years passed, Dad was able to move past most of the stress of the season, it did get better and better.

How do you handle the stress of the holidays? Do you even have stress over the holidays? It's a wonderful thing to avoid, if possible. I think about the first Christmas eve. You know, there had been a lot of stress in preparation for that evening, too. Joseph had to deal with a bride who came to him pregnant. They had to travel with her as a very uncomfortable bride. They had to deliver a child in less than optimal surroundings. Then, there's the whole thing of being responsible for the Son of God! Angels showing up and shepherds wandering in to see the child. Wise men from the east come in to honor this child, Herod wanted to kill Him.

But those moments that Mary held the child in her arms had to have been precious. Can you imagine looking at the face of God in the form of an infant. For you mothers out there, I'm sure you remember the precious, peaceful moments of gazing upon your sleeping infant. But, imagine adding the peace of the Creator to that face. Peace ... peace ... peace. Amen.