Merry Christmas, Pass the Baileys

Every year, we hear about Christmas four  months before it arrives, while it's arriving, when we are almost there, when it finally arrives, and then how to get ready for it again as soon as it is over. Four to eight weeks of gradually increasing pressure to experience one day of the year, followed by a huge Boxing Day Sale and a hangover. The lie that things will make you happy, especially if you give them, followed by the reality that you could have bought it half price 24 hours later.

I am guilty of Holiday Sarcasm. I think too much about why I give something, try to hard to make gifts, and generally hate that feeling like I am just another sheep in the line up at Walmart. Holiday pressures have turned me into a bit of an emotional  and financial Scrooge. And I'm not the only person out there who waits to buy next years cards out of the 75% off discount bin, as well as wrapping paper, tape, decorations, and anything else I can get a deal on.

With all the hype, preparation and layers of socializing and spending, one can lose focus on what Christmas is, and what it has become.

Christmas is a chance to finally take one whole day off. If you don't work at Starbucks or Walmart.

Christmas is a chance to buy loads of clothes that are 80% off, with a 10% off sticker. 'Cause there are never any good sales the rest of the year, right?

Christmas is a chance to get together with the family and friends that you haven't had the guts or the time for all year.

Christmas is a chance to stay up way too late, watch too much TV, and eat snack food at meal times.

Christmas is a chance to drink lots of holiday alcohol, whether you need it to get through something or not. We can control ourselves throughout the year and drink modestly and appropriately..or at least talk like we do......but Christmas?

Christmas is a time for Christians to stand knee-deep in the consumerism tsunami, against the flow of rigid religious expectations and shout as loudly as they can that Christmas is about CHRIST! Did you hear me? It's about CHRIST!

Many of the usual Christmas indicators, like non stop Christmas music and light up decorations often lull me into thinking that I need to really genuinely prepare my heart for Christ and the "Spirit of Christmas".  I am finding more and more that the pressures of Christmas for a Christian are often that we need to somehow be squeezing more emotion or heartfelt spiritual experiences out of these four weeks leading up to December 25. It's no wonder I feel like a tired spiritual failure this time of year: Did I cry enough thinking of Poor Mary in labour? Did I marvel at the idea of a newborn baby? Did I search for deep meaning in every gift I gave and received, as if it was Jesus Himself giving or getting it?

After listening to another song that asks if the world could hold itself back when Jesus was born, I realized that for me, the beauty of Christ coming to earth was that he most likely did NOT bring with him the power packed aura and subconscious spiritual thrills that the songs written today like to say.  He was probably another beautiful, healthy baby, blessed with loving, tired parents. I don't think he conversed with animals, or had a lordly self righteous demeanour, or a glowing halo. The truth about why it is so unbelievable that He came to earth is, I think, that he left behind the scent of holiness and aura of power and supernatural attraction powers.......and was All God crammed into a plain vessel. God demands our holiness, and we cannot stand before Him. Jesus, when he came, was dependant on others, embroiled in family and friend hierarchies, and had no respect in his hometown. The bible says that he had nothing that would attract us to him, no beauty that would cause us to instantly be drawn to Him. And He still came, and still died for me. He still chose to suffer being cramped in a slowly aging, dirty embarrassing body for 33 years, for me. He was born quietly, lived passionately, died horribly, and was raised gloriously. That is what Christmas means to me.

Don't get me wrong, I still treat Christmas as a holy holiday. Like a birthday party. There should be special food, fun drinks, great presents, parties and friends and family. We should spend time resting and relaxing. we should talk about how much we love Jesus and why. We should sing carols and decorate and stay up late...

But we should remember that Christmas is not a day for repeating things just to get through the season. We need to take a break from the pressures and worship the Risen Lord, let Him rest in our hearts each day and bring us new revelations that will propel us into the new year. So that we are ready to move on when the stockings are empty and the wrapping paper has been recycled, and not just ready to move on, willing to move on, looking forward to a new year, and work and family and getting things in order.

After all, Easter and all its trappings are lying in wait just around the corner....

Pass the Baileys....

I Am A Mom, Can You Tell?

I have been storing up all the little signs that tell me I am a Mom, and wanted to share them with my loyal followers. If you feel the urge to add some things to my list, go ahead!

PHYSICALLY
I wear those workout pants because they keep my butt in the right spot....up three inches and separated.
I love my hot tub because it makes my breasts look like they did 15 years ago
Day off translates into No Bra and Whatever is huge and shapeless
Losing weight now shows up as wrinkles and sag
Date night is never over soon enough to go to bed

MENTALLY
Talking to myself is a hobby, I can be very motivating!
Staring is my smoke break
I have acquired a Nothing Box in my head, which makes my husband easier to understand
There is no Impossible, just I Can Wear Them Down With Repeated Callbacks

EMOTIONALLY
Crying is unacceptable and at the same time unavoidable. Bummer
The cute pep talks for kids and husbands have evolved into "Do you want to hear the talk about _____?" Funny, nobody does....not even me
Chocolate and Wine are now Prescriptions that I fill every week. Faithfully


SPIRITUALLY
I listen to God more when I pray because I have often fallen asleep....
I think more about what God wants to do only because what I do seems to suck more and more
"Protection" is the number one prayer request after "provision" and "lift my boobs three inches"
Listening to my children pray makes me cry.....

The other day I was longing for a Real Day Off....again....and I realized that if I did get one, I wouldn't even know how to take it off! I would catch up on all the work or fun or projects that I love to do....and many of them involve my children and my husband. Love, in all of its forms, is the most easily expressed when we integrate our lives with others, spend time with them, enjoy them. It's the gifts and the hugs and time spent- and I believe that it's the open heart behind it that is the love that changes our lives.

Guess I'd rather have my sag and mental lapses and chocolate prescription than an empty house and empty arms. My battle scars in every area of my life are tangible ways for me to trace the passage of time...they are the rewards of a life spent trying to love more openly in real ways...

I think it's worth it, staring bouts and all.....

I Love My Dishwasher

Have I ever told you how much I love my dishwasher? I really really love it. I can load it up and go for a nap and it does the work for me while I sleep....actually, sometime the best naps are when the washer and dryer are going, as well as the dishwasher, breadmaker, crockpot, phone charger, and any other appliance that will work quietly while one sleeps. Awakening to fresh bread, clean clothes and dinner made is heaven for a mother.

These times are busy for moms.

I think that a mom from 100 years ago would die under the stress that we moms get up and shoulder through every day. Yeah, we have more amenities, but we also have layers and layers and layers of social media and cultural expectations and personal hangups and generational mess ups to work through. One stroll through a Christmas mall would bring that Victorian Mother to her knees...

Thing is, we all have messes, either in our houses or in our lives, and probably more in our lives if we were honest.

Many of my friends these days are carrying heavy loads: ours, our husband's, our children's, our family's....

And for some reason, when we get together, especially at Christmas, we trot out one of our dialogues that covers up these messes in our lives: you know these, ladies: I Am So Tired, I Am So Busy, My Children Are Driving Me Nuts, My Husband Is An Idiot, Have You Seen My Brand New _________, and the one I hear the most My House Is So Dirty.

Sometimes I can just hear the undertones...

If only I could get a nap in today, maybe I could cope with my family better
If only I could just stop for one day, maybe I could rest
If only I could get away from my children, maybe I could get my head on straight
If only I could have a moments peace with my husband, maybe we could reconnect
I love my _______________ but my heart is empty
Won't someone please come and clean me up?!?!?!

Christmas is a time when we should be expecting Jesus. this year I abhor the commercialism even more, since it brings no joy, no feelings of happy anticipation, and no peace. Except for the special baking, cooking, liquor consumption and excessive gift buying, this could be October or even May, as far as my heart can tell.

But it is the traditional celebration of Christ's birth, and THAT is worth thinking about, singing about and praying about. It's worth baking cookies for, and gathering with family for, and having lots of chocolates for. It's worth cleaning my house for.

See, I clean houses. Lots of houses. I think that they are all lovely, and unique, and full of people's beauty and trash.  And I have realised that I can clean up people's things really well. But what they need more is their lives cleaned up, or even just set in order to bring peace.

And that is what Christmas is celebrating for me. The Great Heart Housekeeper, come to visit our Messes here on earth. Come to say I think your house is lovely, and there is beauty here and trash. Let me come in, give me your heart and I will set it in order! I am the King, and with me, you are acceptable, trash and treasures! Rest in me and there will be peace, even in the messes. And strength, even in the trying times. And joy, even in the tears. Because I can come and give salvation, and eternal life, which will overtake your good and bad and ugly....Merry Christmas, loved one.

I hope that if I come to do your house, that you find more time to worship Christ in your day. Like the dishwasher, you can rest while I work, and hopefully there will be more peace in your heart.

And if I hear you saying one of those catchphrases, I may ask how I can help you so that you can do what is really on your heart....and I challenge all of you moms out there to do the same: listen carefully to your friends and support and pray for them!

Merry Christmas, loved ones!