It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year! Or is it???

Feeling over-booked? Over stressed? Over committed? Over budget? Maybe even a little OVER THE EDGE?!
Feeling like the "busyness factor" is zapping & draining your energy level away - as well as your bank account?

"How will I get it all done???" Have you found yourself moaning these particular words this season?

Christmas. This wonderful & celebrative time of the year, can often be THE most demanding time of the year on an already full life & schedule. Can you relate?
Even in the midst of our fun Christmas parties & "hoopla," studies show that many people tend to get MORE depressed, MORE stressed out, MORE pressured from an overly busy schedule, and MORE in debt to things we can't afford anyway. Also, very sadly, suicide rates almost always increase around this time of the year. Wow, now those are not very "festive" statistics, are they?!

Why is that? Is it possibly because we've put so much "expectation" on this "most wonderful time of the year" that we've perhaps lost even the very reason we say we celebrate? Why do we do this to ourselves? Why is it that we tend to expect such "perfection" from oursevles, and from others, who we long to make "us" happy, during this season?
I mean, this is supposed to be the most amazing time of the year, it's meant to be filled with LOVE, GOOD CHEER, JOYFUL GREETINGS, FUN, LAUGHTER, AND GIVING!

If you find yourself, well, not very full of much "good cheer" today, be encouraged, you're not alone! My own personal experience tells me that sometimes it helps to take a step back & get the big picture view again. After years of living with unnecessary stress, excess spending, and just plain trying to do too much on the calendar - often leading to sheer exhaustion by the time the big day of Christmas even arrived, and finding I was too wiped out to even celebrate anyway - I began to ask myself a few questions, like, "WHY am I celebrating Christmas? WHAT exactly am I celebrating?"
I've found it quite "freeing" to release myself and others from my own perfectionistic yet well-intended expectations to make the holiday special, wonderful and perfect in every way.
Here's the amazing thing I've found in taking a deeper look into the "why & what" of celebrating Christmas...
The reality is that it will never be a perfect scene straight out of a Norman Rockwell painting, (definitely had to let that go after 3 kids, ha)! But I do have a deeper gratefulness that in the simplicity of our celebration and in taking the time to truly reflect on this most incredible gift that God has given to us, the gift of Jesus Christ, we are more FREE to really celebrate & enjoy each moment of this special season.

We have SO much to be thankful for! Jesus was born - for us! He came to lead the way to God Himself - this is the time of year to reflect on HIM!
It's helped me to remember, it's not about "me," it's not about "us," it's not about the presents, the decorating, the parties, the events...it's about "GOD WITH US, EMMANUEL."

Just this last week, Troy & I happened to catch a quick segment on the Today show where Pastor Rick Warren from Saddleback Community Church was on, talking about his new book, "The Purpose of Christmas." Now usually our mornings at home have more of Diego & Dora than they do of Matt & Meredith on Today, but I was so glad to tune into that for a few moments, it was a great reminder to me, yet again!
I loved what he said in just those brief, yet very powerful moments right there on network TV about the Christmas season.
In a nutshell, if you're feeling down this Christmas, stressed out, like you just can't get everything done you feel like you need to do or are just feeling depressed this time of year...do 2 things:

1. Look to God.

2. Look to help someone less fortunate than yourself.

In other words, let's take our eyes OFF OF OURSELVES! Look to God - He loved us so much, He sent His Son. Look to the needs of other people, there's so many less fortunate than us that would probably "love" to trade their own problems for those that we tend to complain about, right?

Hope your next 12 pre-Christmas days are FILLED, not with stress & burden, but with constant reminders & thoughts about our Savior, Jesus Christ. He came to set us FREE! HE IS WHAT MAKES THIS CHRISTMAS PERFECT IN EVERY WAY!
Leave your stress & cares with Him, He can carry it alot more easily than we can.
Bless you today!