Joy To The World

It's down to the count. One week to go. Are you hyper-ventilating yet? Planning one more trek to Tulsa? Williams Sonoma, Sam's and Target lure like a siren's call. Take my word for it. Put your fingers in your ears. Combined with the Tulsa-ites weather and electricity problems, the trip to T Town just isn't worth it. There are no traffic lights. Cars are backed up for miles. And those people are pretty frantic. I would never have thought our January ice storm was lucky. If we had to have one, the timing was pretty fortunate. It was after Christmas!!

Ah. The Holidays. There is wrapping paper all over the bedroom. There is flour all over the kitchen floor. The Southern Living Amaryllis and Paper White centerpiece is blooming too soon and will be dried up by December 24th. The Christmas cards were returned for not enough postage and several catalog gifts are back-ordered. There will be 2o cousins for Christmas Eve lunch, immediate family for dinner, then Christmas Morning Breakfast and an Open House Christmas Night for friends. To the grocery store, again. Better get cooking.

There's not enough time. There's too much to do. Who dropped a gift by? D#@*! I didn't get one for them. How dare them be thoughtful. Still have those Angel Tree kids to buy for. Wonder if they would take a check? Stop by for a glass of wine and conversation? Are you kidding? We still haven't put up the Christmas lights. Gotta put up the Christmas lights. The rest of the neighbors are giving us dirty looks. "But honey, ours is the only house on the block with just a wreath on the door. Stand Back! Inflate the 12 foot snow globe!"

Mumbling to yourself? Nah. Not sleeping and making lists at two in the morning? Maybe. Hair falling out? Yes. Just a nervous reaction to stress.

Are you finding yourself short with the kids as you create the perfect Christmas? "Don't bother me. I have 300 gold sequins to glue on this table runner. You'll just be thrilled at the ambiance created (walking past to the Kids Table in the laundry room on Christmas Eve)."

" Oh honey. Love the glitter and Popsicle stick ornament with your precious photo........No!.....not on the Christmas Tree. Got a gold and red blown glass kind of thing going this year. Popsicle sticks just don't go with the theme."

Exaggerated? Maybe. Based somehow on fact? Probably so. I for one got a big dose of put it in perspective last night. I hope some of you reading this were also as blessed. The Muskogee Community Chorus presented Handel's Messiah at St Paul UMC. Sitting there with eyes closed, as the beautiful music filled the sanctuary, you just knew the angels were singing. Handel's breath-taking music proclaims the magnificent gift given Mankind, first prophesied and then fulfilled. The Son of God Incarnate.

Christmas is not a Hallmark card with Snoopy in a manger. Christmas is not Barry Manilow singing "Seasonal Carols" or holiday cocktails for all Twelve Days of Christmas. In a way, it is not family or friends or traditions, though they are definitely bonuses to the celebration. It is an acknowledgement of the birth of a Saviour. As Handel so beautifully proclaims, King of Kings. Lord of Lords. Hallelujah.

I'm for one am going to take a deep breath. It's time to simplify the preparations so we can acknowledge and reflect on the season. As the T-shirt says, remember the reason. I'm putting my foot down. Happy Holidays just does not do it for me. There are lots of holidays. There is only one birth of Christ. So, to all who believe:

A Very Merry Christmas