My Papaw was a man of few words and was known, among many things, for his candidness and dry wit. I remember that every year on Christmas morning, after the final present was opened and we found ourselves once again sitting in the remnant of boxes, toys, wrapping paper, mounds of clothes and half-empty mugs of egg-nog and coffee, he would reply with the most stoic of faces, "well, it's all over for another year."
And that was that.
We all laughed and rolled our eyes, but I always cringed just a bit. He was right. All of that build up, all of that anticipation... and then it was over within minutes. Sometimes I feel that Christmas morning is a bit like the last day of vacation. You try to enjoy it, but always with the looming heaviness that you have to return to work and "real life" the next day. Interestingly enough, the New York Times published an article some time ago about how vacations affect your happiness but I found myself reading it and thinking how one could easily replace the word "vacation" with the word "Christmas." The study was published in the journal Applied Research in Quality of Life, and was conducted to show that the largest increase in a person's level of happiness was directly related to simply planning a vacation or trip. According to research, the anticipation alone boosted happiness for upwards of eight weeks. Ironically, almost all people- regardless of how relaxing the vacation was- reported going back to baseline levels of happiness nearly right away after returning from vacation. And those that were only "somewhat relaxed" on their vacation reported the same levels of happiness of those that didn't even go on vacation that year.
So, if what this article is claiming is true and could be applied to any event, then 1) it would seem that the happiest time for all of us in the midst of the holiday season is actually right now. Today. This week. Maybe even last week. And 2) we get out of Christmas what we put into it. (That seems like a very cliche thing to say, but it couldn't be more true). As I was wrapping gifts the other night and the smell of my great-great grandmother's applesauce cake baking in the oven permeated the house, I realized that this (the preparation, the traditions that we're creating around our family and faith) is Christmas to me. The problem is that I often don't slow down enough to realize that Christmas isn't just a day I'm counting down to, not even as it pertains to the Christian faith. I think it's actually bigger than that. It's meant to encompass a spirit, a perspective, even a rhythm of life. Yet for so many of us- especially those of us blessed with type A personalities {casually whistles and glances away}, this time of year often becomes the complete antithesis of what we hope for it it to be. We practically give ourselves ulcers trying to beat the clock, get the last of the Christmas cards mailed in time, schedule family get-togethers, clean, bake, decorate, wrap, spend and of course, second-guess that gift we bought for such-and-such.
This, my friends, is what December is usually like for me. Each year, I vow to approach it differently. And each year, I conveniently forget how exhausted I was the Christmas before. I miss the forest for the trees. I miss Christmas because I'm too busy trying to make Christmas.
I hope that makes sense. It may not. I'm currently running on 5 hours of sleep because I was up late last night finishing Christmas cards, wrapping gifts and more or less acting like I wasn't going to be awakened at the butt-crack of dawn by either my 2 1/2 year-old or 10 month-old. (Guilty as charged). ;-) So for all of my friends and family and for anyone else who happens to stumble upon this post, I wish for you peace and joy and perhaps a little bit of relief in knowing that Christmas cannot be manufactured or manipulated, nor can it be created or coerced. It simply IS.
You can let yourself off the hook now (and I'm going to do my best to follow my own advice). ;-)
Grace and Peace to you, and Merry Christmas! :)
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