'Tis the Season

Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

MATTHEW 6:19-21 

I can feel the anxiety of the season coming. I love the holiday, and yet every year, I let the consumerism and the fact that I stink at shopping steal my peace. I want to give everyone a very special, thoughtful, beautiful gift that is homemade or from the heart. I want to ship it to them on time to show them how much I love them. I want my godchildren to know I am thinking of them as well as my sisters and brothers and parents and friends. It quickly gets overwhelming to me. I feel evermore convicted that today more than ever, Christmas is to be holy. It must not be stolen and gutted like any other secular holiday. Am I guilty of handing it over to its ruin? Am I participating in their Christmas without Jesus? No, I must not forget our Savior. And so I am going to try to do two things this year: 

1. I am going to keep it small.

2. I am going to keep it sacred.

Ideas of things to keep it small:

1. A beautiful Christmas candle center piece made from garden leaves or buy a cheap poinsettia for the kitchen table.

2. Get the house smelling great with a Christmas scent jar with lights or simmering spices on the stove.

3. Make a pomander.

4. Listen to a good holiday music play list like this one or the classic Charlie Brown Christmas Album.

5. Watch your favorite Christmas movie. Mine is  Ziggy's Gift. Mr. Peasant's is Die Hard. The Happy Prince and The Selfish Giant are two amazingly heartfelt old animation movies (from Oscar Wilde Stories).

6. Drink hot things like mugs of apple cider, hot chocolate, pumpkin lattes or Chai tea.

7. Use your oven. Bake with people you love as much as possible. Share your recipes!

8. Make and send out Christmas cards. Let everyone know how much you love them.

Ideas to make it sacred:

1. Don't shop on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day. Let everyone spend time with their families and with God.

2. Call an old friend or a family member you haven't spoke to in a while.

3. Invite someone over to dinner or bring food to someone.

4. Make peace with someone you are fighting with. Pray for them and forgive.

5. Use the symbols of our faith in decorating. Candles, lights, evergreens, nativity scenes, angels, star, bells, wise men, advent wreaths, the color red (blood he shed) and the color green (life eternal he offers us). Find more symbols here.

6. Fill your house with the singing of religious Christmas Carols. This is the only time of year when we can sing poorly without feeling self conscious. Let's enjoy it!

7. Give gifts of prayer, offering up a lunch fast, saying a novena or a rosary for our loved ones.

8. Go to church. Let the activities of the church fill your calendar this month. From the children's play to the choir performances, spend time in God's house.

9. Dedicate time to reading God's word. Focus on Jesus' birth or on the Song of Mary- Magnificat.

Now no man lighting a candle covereth it with a vessel, or putteth it under a bed; but setteth it upon a candlestick, that they who come in may see the light.  --LUKE 8:16

Let's shine.  Let's light up this dark world. Let's fight for a holy, sacred, peaceful and simple season. Let's show the love of God to everyone we meet and lets spend more hours in prayer than in stores. The Christmas gift has already been picked out, paid for and delivered to us. What we need to do is rejoice! Our Savior has come!