Descroogifying

Well, it seems the Christmas season is upon us.  I'm working through my usual Christmas issues that I've already blogged about in previous years- my stress with gifts, my not quite recovering from last year,  (lets make that the last 25 years) my financial anxiety, my distaste for disappointment, and my basic aversion to a lot of work.  Pair that with my love for family, the Savior, Christmas music and lights and you can see the conflict.  It's actually business as usual in my brain as I strive to overcome the natural man and rise up a loving, kind, giving person.  To get to that place I always need a little help and more often than not, it comes because God is good and he has some wonderful children on this earth.

In the Stoker house, Christmas comes as soon as the Thanksgiving dishes are done.  It sneaks in with the viewing of  "Miracle on 34th St." the darling Mara Wilson and dreamy Dillon McDermott version. This always melts my heart a bit and the descroogifying begins.  Trimming the tree is the next step.  This is where I always run into a little trouble as I remember that every ornament we put up needs to be taken down in January-the grayest of months.  This attitude problem causes a little blip in my merriment and can be compounded if my lights don't work.  Not to worry, however, they sell lights at stores. Another plus is that if the kids are happy, I'm happy.  This year all were happy, not to mention co-operative and efficient.  It was painless.  In fact it was fun.  I still felt myself holding back a little, it's as if I didn't want to jump all the way in  to "Yuletide festive" because it may not be all the way safe there.   But as we all know, if we don't give something our all, we don't receive all that something has to offer.

The night after the tree was ornamented, we loaded in the car and drove to the Gaddi family's community Christmas light display.  I brought along my "Let's not kill ourselves when we celebrate this year" attitude.  I had not been to Gaddi's before.  They had killed themselves.  I tried to calculate how long it had taken them to prepare for this holiday gift to the community.  The displays were fantastic,  just the ticket for getting in the Christmas spirit, and just the ticket for showing me that when you sacrifice for the good of others without any thought for yourself, Christmas comes.  They had been doing this for many seasons. I'm sure they were a little tired of all the work it took to make every thing merry and bright, but they did it for me and my children and the hundreds of other Fayettevillers who drive through their property from Thanksgiving to Christmas.  Oh yeah...gift of self...just like Jesus.

See?  I knew this.  I just needed a little help getting there.  I remember now how thankful I am for the sacrifice of our Redeemer for all of God's children.  And thank you, Mary, for bearing a son that was born to die.  And I'll try to remember who's party this is anyway and not get grumpy or obsess about things, but try to give good gifts, from the heart, and I'll work on being free with myself and my substance but not walk faster than I have strength and leave some strength to enjoy time with the people I love.  And if I forget, I'll just listen to wonderful souls who "get" the season, like my one friend who when I was thinking of ways to save my energy and get out of things said, "December is such a special month for me.  I love everything about it."  And I'll celebrate.

Merriest of Christmases to you all.  May it be filled with beautiful music, wonderful people, lots of lights, good gifts and the Spirit of our Lord.