It's Christmas Time....Time For My Soap Box....And My Many Other Issues, and there are many!

If you know me at all or have been reading my blog for the last year, you will know that although I LOVE the true meaning of Christmas....I am not a huge "Christmas and all that goes along with that" fan. After my treasured Thanksgiving passes, it's a downward spiral for me for the next 3 weeks....there's tons to do, presents to buy with very little money to buy them with, baking to be done, invitations to this and that, parties, cookie exchanges, ornament exchanges, luncheons, shopping, crowds, parades, Christmas cards, candlelighting, decorating, caroling, etc. Have I ever mentioned that busyness overwhelms me? Well it does! As much as I enjoy many of the things I just listed (especially Christmas cards and baking)....I get completely overwhelmed by it all and honestly sometimes a little annoyed. Now for my soapbox....feel free to stop reading now....I believe that Christmas is about Jesus....plain and simple! I love that His birthday is celebrated in so many ways, and I think it's wonderful IF.....that is why we are really going to all the trouble and mayhem planning and organizing for all of these things.....for HIS birthday! Do we really need to exchange an ornament or a dozen cookies to celebrate the birth of Our Savior? Now I know what some of you are thinking.....it's the Christmas spirit, and for most it probably is; but for me....the Christmas spirit comes after all the hulabaloo and chaos has settled down....for me it comes on Christmas Eve when we are at church celebrating the birth of Christ....or when I'm thinking about the angel (from the angel tree) opening his/her gift....or when I'm serving or hosting a table full of broke, hungry people for dinner at our church's monthly dinner....when we come home from church on Christmas Eve and set out (for Santa) a piece of Jesus's birthday cake that we baked especially for His birthday.....that's when I feel the "Christmas spirit"! Now I do have to get past the fact that we are leaving the cake for Santa, because I have issues (stemming back to childhood) with the Claus family as well....I'm sure Sinter Klaus was a nice enough gentleman; but still not a fan....that's all spelled out in a previous post from this time last year, so I won't get into that again. As I said, it's not that I don't enjoy many of these things....it's just that I oftentimes feel like it's out of control,excessive and for the wrong reasons. Jesus doesn't care one iota about a Christmas card or decorating a tree. Actually I think He would think it was perfectly okay if we didn't do most of those things and just spent all the time, that we would have at parties and gift exchanges, in His word or serving another! I know many many many people don't agree and think all these activities and events are just part of the season, and that's perfectly okay....everyone has his/her opinion about the season; and since this is my blog....I'm sharing mine here and now. I'm just venting about stating how I feel during this time of year....I don't believe in overabundance or excessiveness. In fact it gets on my last nerve if you want to know the truth. I know that I am so very fortunate to live in a house, have food to eat, clothes to wear, clean water, and the other basic necessities of life plus many many many extras; and honestly I use to never really think about how fortunate I was to have those things and was never really truly grateful! So when my husband's company owners use to treat us to a very extravagant and expensive Christmas party and dinner, I thoroughly enjoyed it and thought it was great. But today if they still did that....I don't even know if I would go....it seems so wasteful to spend tens of thousands of dollars to feed perfectly healthy and some very wealthy individuals, who spent a small fortune on their outfit for the night, when there are people literally in our own neighborhood starving and homeless. There are so many of us who focus so much on living in abundance and materialism that we can't even see the needs around us. Christmas time seems to be one of the worst times of the year as far as abundance, excessiveness and materialism go. I use to be that way and am by no means Mother Teresa, and I still struggle with wants vs. needs; but I have been praying and searching for what God is leading me to do as far as "stuff" goes. Simply I just want to celebrate the birth of Jesus like we should celebrate it every day of the year....by praising, thanksgiving, and serving! I'm not saying a LITTLE extra celebrating this time of year is a bad thing....I'm saying that A LOT of extra celebrating this time of year without Jesus at the center is....well....not for me! JESUS IS THE REASON FOR THE SEASON....sometimes we forget that!