All year long the hustle of the day-to-day life becomes an overbearing hardship that breaks us down to near exhaustion. Just like clockwork Halloween and Thanksgiving sneak up on you and before you know it December 1st has arrived. Christmas is only days away and you feel like you’ve got nothing done. Between work schedules, school schedules, Mass, Advent, parties, decorating, eating, buying the presents, hiding the presents, forgetting where you hid the presents and everything in between it can be easy to get caught up. This is something we are all guilty of doing at one point or another. If we are going to rush through December like we do every other month, then we are only cheating ourselves.
I remember a Christmas long ago when I was a child, and I did not receive the reindeer I wanted and felt my whole Christmas was ruined. I remember spending a lot of time sulking in my weight of despair as I could not fathom as to how I could be treated this way. Mind you I wanted a real life, walking, eating pooping REINDEER. My parents were right to only give me a stuffed animal. As a young adult I have felt the need ignore Christmas or to rush through it and “get it over with”. As I have grown, I realize now that I was very wrong in thinking this way. Christmas is a time to slow down, remember what is importantand to be thankful to our God for all that he has gifted to us.
We spend our lives running the rat race that we forget who we . Take time this Christmas to reset your mind and focus onlyon the simplest of things. Whether it be the smile on your kids face when they see snow for the first time, the frustration of dad trying to untangle the lights, your mother face when the tree is all lite up. Take time to appreciate each other and understand we are all doing our best to be good parents, sons, and daughters. Take time to appreciate yourself as you contemplate your growth in the past year. Take the time and enjoy every second of it. That email in your work inbox will still be there on Monday so just leave it alone, it’s not that important.
The simplicity of the season is something to be cherished and remember that Jesus came to this world in the simplest of ways. He did not have a large party, no mountain of presents nor glamours décor. All he had was his family, his faith and his love and that was more than enough.
