Behind the Scenes and From My Heart

So…are you ready for Christmas?

Does that question strike fear in your heart like it does mine?

My immediate reaction:   What if I have forgotten something?  A gift for the neighbors, a Christmas card for that friend I haven’t seen in 15 years, or as I discovered today…SHOES to go with the Christmas outfits?!  (And I was so proud I actually remembered to get the outfits!)

And if I am being completely honest, this Christmas I struggled…really struggled…with a sense of being overwhelmed.

I think there were many factors involved.  It was a hectic month.  The boys were sick for the good part of a week, I traveled to visit friends, we had overnight guests a couple of times recently, and I was also facing some personal challenges in the midst of the busy-ness.

In full disclosure, there were many moments that I felt like a total stress-ball. (And honestly, that is not the norm for me.)

I found myself saying to more than one person, “It really shouldn’t be like this.”

And it’s true.  It really shouldn’t be like this.

But it was.  There is something about Christmas that makes all the noise even noisier and the chaos even more chaotic.

Until the other evening.

Our advent box activity was to drive around that evening and look at Christmas lights.  So we bundled the boys up in warm pj’s, grabbed a box of sugar cookies and a camera and loaded into the car.

And we drove.  The Christmas music played on the radio.  The boys chirped with excitement.  And I mostly just listened.  And breathed.

{I think I had forgotten to do that for the past few weeks.}

Then we saw it.

You know the one.  The yard that makes Clark Griswold look like the Grinch.  The one that rivals the Disney World Festival of Lights.  And Rockefeller Center.  All rolled into one.

It was quite the display.

It took me a few minutes, but then I noticed it.  Way back in a quiet corner behind the Reindeer on the see-saw, and the ginormous Frosty the Snowman, and the Santa riding the Ferris Wheel.

It was a nativity scene.

So still.  So hidden.  So quiet.

So different from the noise and chaos surrounding it.

And I was reminded of a truth that I know so well.  That the meaning of Christmas is not about the noise and chaos surrounding it.

For me, the meaning of Christmas is hidden away, tucked inside that quiet manger.

The meaning of Christmas is HOPE wrapped up in swaddling clothes.

How’s your noise and chaos level right now?

Are you ready for Christmas?

Or shall I put it, “Are you ready for HOPE?”

I believe you’ll find it in that quiet, hidden manger. If you will just look.

Merry Christmas from me to you.  I am grateful for you, dear readers.  You mean so much to me.

Here’s hoping that Christmas gives you rest from the noise and the chaos.  And offers you HOPE.