Escaping the Holiday Labryinth

With the holidays being jammed down our throats earlier and earlier each year I find myself more and more stressed about getting everything done in order to "enjoy" the season. Cards (which I missed last year), gifts, baking, decorating...it gets to be a bit overwhelming. I start out in the right frame of mind; thinking what gets done, gets done and what doesn't, doesn't. But before long I fall into that familiar trap of being too busy and pushed to enjoy anything I'm doing.

Well, I'm trying to turn over a new leaf this year. I'm trying to look at the holidays as THE gift and trying to escape the maze. Have you ever seen those experiments where they put mice in one end of a maze and cheese at the other? The poor little mouse can smell the cheese but has to figure out how to navigate through the maze to get to it. The helpless creature is constantly banging into walls and retracing its' steps to get it right. All for some lame piece of cheese it is almost too exhausted to eat at the finish line.

I am that mouse. And coming off as the quintessential wife, mom, friend, daughter, sister, aunt, hostess, communicator, gift giver, and cook is the cheese. So I work myself into a frenzy trying to transform my mouse into a super-model and I keep banging my heads against walls and never get to enjoy the real spirit of the season.

The only part of my identity that REALLY matters is that of Beth, the beloved disciple of Jesus Christ...child of the one true God. My worth and comfort have to come from that or else they really don't exist. I can pretty the house up, bake yummy cookies, write the best Christmas letter ever, buy everyone on my list the perfect gift and still miss the mark by a long shot.

On a day in Bethlehem long ago when a baby breathed it's first breath in the cool night air, everything changed. This year, I want to remember that. I want to remember the sacrifice that we celebrate at Christmas. And one of the ways I intend to do that is by giving some Alternative Christmas Gifts . This link will take you to World Vision's gift catalog page where you can be a part of something way bigger that the 10th anniversary of Tickle Me Elmo. You can (for not too much money) buy a share in a well that will bring clean drinking water to an entire village. You can buy a share of cattle that will provide a family with a way to make money. You can provide medication for a child orphaned by AIDS...and on and on.

Please consider doing this for at least one gift on your list this year. The big corporate toy makers won't really miss your money that much and the difference you can make in the lives of people around the world is immeasurable.

Peace.