Christmas

Is there a middle ground?
At one extreme, you could buy nothing, decorate nothing, bake nothing, and do nothing except go to church, read your Bible, pray, and listen to (Christian only) carols.
 
At the other extreme, you have a Christmas celebration of Griswoldian proportions.
 
Surely there's a middle ground in there somewhere. Surely I don't have to strip away all the 'pretty' from Christmas to prove to the world what Christmas means to me. Surely I don't have to put embroidered holly linens on every bed to prove to the world I am "Ho Ho Ho" enough?
 
Where is that middle ground?
 
We have a tree.
We (and by we I mean Lachie) put up some garland around the house.
We went to see some Christmas lights last night.
We bought 3 presents each for our children.
We plan to go to church on Christmas day.
We plan to attend the candlelight carol service at our church.
I've been teaching Charlie different songs about Jesus. 
I let her watch movies about reindeer.
We don't make a huge deal about Santa, and instead let her draw her own conclusions.
 
It feels like a pretty good balance, but when I'm standing next to someone who is at either extreme, I question my judgement. When I'm next to someone at the "do nothing" end of the spectrum, I feel shallow and materialistic. When I'm next to someone at the other end, I feel inadequate.
 
Christmas isn't meant to make us feel crummy. It should be a time of rejoicing. What your rejoicing looks like to others doesn't matter so much as what your heart looks like to God. Can you celebrate Jesus' birth while giving gifts to other people? Yep. Can you have a beautiful Christmas without the special Christmas dinnerware? Absolutely.
 
What does Christmas look like at your house?
 
XOXO,
Sarah

Comments

The Hopeful Elephant said…
Currently, it's a disaster. Tree up. Garland strung. Presents in Jack's old bedroom hiding.

I agree with you...and I struggle with the same things.

I miss you. You've been awfully quiet...you OK?
December 17, 2009 at 1:26 AM
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