Choosing Celebration

On Halloween the last few years, all I can think about is Christmas. Complete side note, since becoming a mother Halloween stresses me out, I do not love this holiday.

I do love Christmas and you better believe I will be watching the Countdown to Christmas on W Network starting Nov 1st. I will occasionally start listening to Christmas music, I will be planning Christmas crafts and activities for the kids and I for our homeschool work and I plan on pulling out the Christmas decorations as of Nov 12.

When do you decorate for Christmas? Tyler prefers if we don’t decorate until after Remembrance Day and I respect that.

Last Christmas our kitchen renovation was still in progress in November so I didn’t get to decorate until December. This was hard for me but it really forced me to refocus on what Christmas means to me. I always go into my Christmas celebrations conscious of keeping the birth of Christ at the centre of my festivities.

Each year I study the Christmas story and learn something new. I pray for God to reveal different lessons from the story to me as I read through it. This year I think its kinda cool that I am pregnant, I have never been pregnant at Christmas. I am preparing, anticipating and expecting the birth of my own child. How did Mary feel knowing she was carrying the son of God?

I feel this general sense of excitement for the Christmas season this year from my community, it feels like more than usual this year, maybe because we all want something to celebrate. For me, 2020 has been challenging, my faith is still in the fire but I know God is refining me, I believe God is refining the world. And so with all of its challenges I am kinda ready to celebrate the year. Is it possible we still don’t even know what we have endured because we are still in the middle of it?

Christmas will be different this year like everything else. Christmas will be harder for some than years prior. I want to be aware of what I can share with giving as a focus. I want to celebrate what I have. I want to celebrate hope. I want to celebrate the amazing gift of our saviour born as a baby. Its a torn feeling for me but with a broken, imperfect heart I will choose celebration this year for the mundane and miraculous, I will celebrate this Christmas!

xoxo

Heather