I’ll Try An Extra Helping Next Year

Ahh! New Years Day. I feel like I should be sleeping off a rough night or sitting on the couch watching parades and football but instead I find myself puttering around my house with a cloud of anxiety hovering over me. Tomorrow it’s back to reality. Ugh.

It’s just too soon, isn’t it? Is Christmas vacation really over? Is it really time to go back to school and get back to the daily list of responsibilities? How many of those have been neglected over the last few weeks? Finally, and most regrettably, do I really have to find a place for all this new crap – err, I mean thoughtful gifts?

I’m feeling some extra angst towards Santa right about now. Did he really have to get my kids everything they asked for? How did we get swept up into another commercialized Christmas? I started out with the intention of trying to keep to the true meaning of the Holiday but as we got closer and closer to the day all it seemed to involve was Santa and presents, presents and maybe some junk food.  Yikes. It is really hard to keep the Christ in Christmas!

Church on Christmas Eve was a disaster and trying to pray before our Christmas meal was comical. I think we may have managed a “Happy Birthday Jesus” toast before diving into pork and mashed potatoes. My kids pushed Jesus to the side with just as much vigor as they pushed aside the salad and green beans.

"Look! There's Jesus in his cage!"

As I analyze how Christmas went and how I could do things different, I realize that maybe I haven’t done such a bad job. Maybe I've added Jesus into our Holiday similarly to how I've added that salad and side of green beans. I've snuck a couple of Bible stories in at bedtime; we've attended church and Sunday school with some regularity. My three year old can point baby Jesus out of a crowded manager scene (too bad he has been heard to shout “There’s baby Jesus in his cage” but I can work on that!). Maybe right now they’d rather focus on the presents just like they’d  rather focus on the carbs and sweets but maybe, just maybe, one day it’ll all sink in and they’ll embrace the true meaning of the Holiday just like one day I feel confident that they will eat some vegetables.

Instead of fretting over how I can change our Christmas, I’m just going to think of how I can sneak an extra side of Christ into our Holiday just like I’m always scheming on how to sneak in an extra vegetable. Some ways I came up with:

• Add a short Bible verse to the inside of our Christmas countdown chain links. Each day, read that bible verse leading up to Jesus’ birth.
• Put a bowl with 25 Acts of Kindness written on small sheets of paper. Each day leading up to Christmas, pick a kind act to do from the bowl. 

I’ll let you know how I do next year! For now, it’s off to clean my kitchen and cook some pork and sauerkraut, trying not to dwell on the responsibilities tomorrow will bring. At least I can check off “Blog Entry” from my mental to do list!

Happy New Year!