Don't Get Your Tinsel in a Tangle!

         To start off the Christmas season I normally watch White Christmas and Miracle on 34th Street, this year I thought I'd start off with a little humor and watched Jingle all the Way. I thought it was pretty funny and was quite critical thinking seriously, who leaves shopping until the last minute like that.... until the next day I went out Christmas shopping...... and struck out at every store I went to with my Christmas list! I thought how in the world can everything be gone? It's the 1st of December????? Darn those Black Friday shoppers.... I seriously started to feel like the main character, racing from store to store to get there before some other mom looking for the same princess thing for their little girl! It doesn't really help either when the ONLY thing my darling little 4 year old asked Santa for is a Sleeping Beauty Vacuum..... do they even make those????

As my anxiety started to rise to panic I called my husband and asked him what now? He calmly reminded me that our daughter was 4 and she wouldn't really care what she got as long as we created the magic of Christmas in our home.

And he's right. The magic of Christmas is in the putting up of the tree, drinking hot chocolate.... (which here in Arizona we have to wait until December for it to cool down to the 70's so we can feel chilled enough to want it!) Singing carols, seeing the lights, visiting Santa, baking goodies for our neighbors and giving to those in need. And of course Celebrating the birth of our Savior. I love how the most exciting thing to my 4 year old is to hear about baby Jesus.

Looking at this season through the eyes of a child is probably the smartest thing we can do to put ourselves in the right frame of mind for Christmas. As adults we all know the meaning of Christmas, and know that that is where we should be focusing, but no one else is going to get the tree up, do the baking, finish the Christmas shopping, make sure family pictures are taken, get Christmas cards out, buy presents for the teachers, PLUS manage the day to day household tasks, and worry about how we are going to pay for all this fun without putting anything on the credit card! SO how do we make sure that as we create the Christmas magic for those around us we actually get to feel it too?! 

For me I decided to take on the challenge that the commercial part of Christmas doesn't have to look any certain way. (Which for someone who likes to make sure everything is perfect is definitely going to be a challenge) In fact I even decided to make a few of gifts this year! A totally new adventure for me, and I'm actually kind of excited to put a little of me into my gifts! SO if my tree stands a little crooked and is decorated with popcorn, my sugar cookies have too many sprinkles from a little helper, and I don't get my Christmas cards out til New Years, just know I was enjoying the magic of this Christmas season and truly celebrating my Savior's birth!

ps. If you want a great Christmas gift of inspiring music go to my website http://www.lundynrae.com and purchase my cd A Better Plan, an inspiring and empowering gift to last all year!!!