A Simple Christmas

Living Simply: Christmas and Advent Resource Site

(Click on the resource to learn more.)

Beloved Children of God,

Unplug the Christmas Machine was the main book I used during a recent Adult Topics class I led on keeping Advent and Christmas simple and it very well could have been the title of the class as well. No matter what your generation or life status, Christmas and the time leading up to it can often be overwhelming and worse, uninspiring.

Already our stores are trying to talk us into mandatory JOY! and PEACE! These items, they promise, can easily be found as long as you buy the perfect present that comes with a matching scarf and you don’t have to start paying until January! What a country!

We are also a country that spends an estimated $450 billion on Christmas every year.

$450,000,000,000.00

In our class we spoke of some of the things that have created the Christmas industry I have been doing a lot of reading and contemplating of my own on the topic of what we really want from Christmas. I think most of you would agree that material goods are actually pretty low on most of our lists. The things that I want are more time with my kid, a relaxed atmosphere while my extended family is in town and for my family and friends to be happy and healthy.

That last one is out of my hands but the first two I can take greater control over. And so humbly I offer all of us some ideas:

• Create a family ritual through the season. The Advent devotional is a great way to start or finish the day. Read it out loud each day as you light the candle on your Advent wreath.
• Ignore the trappings and the build-up of the holiday until you say it’s time. The stores told us it was Christmas season in mid-October. Not true. Use a family tradition to start off your own holiday season and do it in mid-December. It may be pulling out the Christmas decorations or baking the first batch of cookies or going out to find the tree or watching a favorite Christmas movie. Whatever it is, make it a tradition so that every year that tradition marks the beginning of the holiday season for your family, not when the stores say so.
• Set realistic expectations about gifts. One idea was to give each child/family member 3 gifts – one for each wise man. But that does not mean that each of the gifts have to be over the top. The gift of time can be a gift – what about the promise to a relative or friend of a mani/pedi together every 2 months or promise to a teen to go see the movie they want to see three times the next year. Be creative.
• Keep things evenly paced. Just because all of your friends decided to throw their parties in a 10 day span does not mean you have to go to all of them. Baking gifts is a great idea, until you are baking at 2am. The churches in the area will offer a lot of opportunities for Christmas joy, most of them great, but prioritize your selections. If you’re dragging you or your pre-schooler out the door at what should be nap time (again for you or your pre-schooler) to go make another craft or see another concert maybe it would be okay to skip that opportunity. Having said that...
• Worship together. Allow the Sundays of Advent and the celebration of the Christ child’s birth provide the rhythm for your holiday season. Jesus is the reason for the season – and worship is where you and your family will be reminded why.

Peace be with You,

Pastor Kathryn