Christmas is coming, the goose is getting fat...

OK, maybe there won't be any goose this Christmas (nor has there ever been at any of my Christmases before), but that song could still be accurate nowadays if we switched out some key words. To make it, "Christmas is coming, and we're all getting fat..." At least that's what it feels like to me most of the time! No, I don't think I'm fat, nor am I going to develop an eating disorder in response to the continual feasting that seems to go on in honour of Christmas, starting in November. But I am a little overwhelmed by all of the parties, and the gifts of food that people keep giving our office! Here's just a small sample of what we've had in the past few weeks:

• 2 Christmas parties, each with more food than anyone knew what to do with
• 1 box of Tim Hortons donuts from the State Troopers who use our pool for scuba training
• 1 box of Rushford Bakery donuts
• 30,000 plates of cookies (OK, maybe only 30...but STILL, that's a LOT of cookies!)
• 1 gift box of Hickory Farms cheese, crackers, beef sticks, etc. from the Senior Citizens Exercise Group
• Individual goodie bags, with chocolate-covered pretzel rods and chocolate-covered Rice Krispies treats made by the women's basketball team, for each person in our department. (And guess who gets all the leftovers...ME! The people who are conscientious of healthy eating and all that good stuff pass their treats on to me, because they say, "Here, you're young and thin and your metabolism hasn't slowed down yet, so you can afford to eat these.")
  
• Not to mention all of the snacks, refreshments, cookies, and parties at church!

I wish we could spread it all out over a longer period of time...to give us treats periodically all year round, instead of WAY TOO MANY ALL AT ONCE at Christmas time. Not that I mind food. Oh, no, I LOVE food! And I love baking Christmas cookies to give to people. But sometimes I want to get rid of some of the trappings, because I feel like I'm going to drown in them. Like I want to say, "STOP, STOP! If we took away some of this STUFF, would it still be Christmas? Is it possible that it would be MORE Christmas, because there would be MORE room for Christ?" I guess the biggest problem lies for me in trying to figure out what to take away and what to leave. Because many of the things - or most of them - aren't bad in and of themselves. Baking and giving away the fruits of that baking; shopping and giving away the fruits of that shopping; throwing parties; putting on Christmas plays and musicals; spending time with friends & family...In fact, many of them are good things! But if any of them are not part of enabling Christ's coming into our lives, and thus into this world, as we are His body here on earth today, dare I say that these very things are then hindering His coming into our lives? I'm not suggesting that we all become ascetics for Christmas - I don't really think that would help, it would just give us a whole other set of problems. I simply want Christ to have all the room He needs, to come and dwell among us, and in us, and there grow and transform us and make all things new, and from there pour forth to the ends of the earth. I don't want to stuff myself with all the trimmings only to reach the main course and discover I am already full, and have no room, no appetite left for the Bread of Life.

Jesus, may we give you all the room that You need, that You deserve, that You require, this Christmas!

Can you believe it?

I am having quite a hard time believing that Christmas is 1 week from TODAY!!!!!!!

Right now, all I want to do is sleep all day, to recover from the all-weekend-long-mad-frenzied-final-push for our church's Christmas musical, which we finally performed yesterday. And now it's Monday, and I still feel like I need a weekend...Good thing I have all next week to recover! :)

Only 7 more days left in Advent...And today's Advent thought for the day comes from Evelyn Underhill:

When you don't see any startling marks of your own religious condition or your usefulness to God, think of the baby in the stable and the little Boy in the streets of Nazareth. The very life was there which was to change the whole history of the human race. There was not much to show for it. But there is entire continuity between the stable and the Easter garden and the thread that unites them is the will of God. The childlike simple prayer of Nazareth was the right preparation for the awful privilege of the Cross. Just so the light of the Spirit is to unfold gently and steadily within us, till at last our final stature, all God designed us for, is attained. It is an organic process, a continuous divine action, not a series of jerks...For what does union with God mean? It is not a nice feeling we get in devout moments. That may or may not be a by-product of union - probably not. It can never be its substance. Union with God means every bit of our human nature transfigured in Christ, woven up into His creative life and activity, absorbed into His redeeming purpose, heart, soul, mind, and strength. Each time it happens it means that one of God's creatures has achieved its destiny.

Amen and Amen.

If you're bored, or looking to procrastinate,

watch this!

Courtesy of Dr. Swanson, the man of 1001 jokes, stories, and funny video clips, who has the spiritual gift of making sure he shares them with EVERYONE. :) This is the first of what I'm sure will be many more Christmas clips from him this year, in the same pattern as last year.

But the good thing is, it's good for a few laughs, albeit with some rolling of the eyes, and GREAT if you're looking for a way to while away a few minutes of this snowy Friday! (Oh, it's not snowing where you are? Bummer for you...It's falling quite nicely here! Well, I say nicely because it LOOKS nice, from inside a warm building where I sit right now! I won't think it's nice when I drive home in it tonight...Praise the Lord it's Friday and I don't have to drive anywhere until Monday!)

I was absolutely convinced that, at the end, the white reindeer's nose would light up and he would turn out to be Rudolph.

True confessions...

I have discovered this week that I really don't mind getting stuck behind the snow plow. Because then, if I'm late, I can just blame it on the snow plow being slow. But in the meantime it also gives me the perfect excuse to drive slowly without the people behind me getting annoyed at me! :) (I must admit, I am a bit of a granny driver when it comes to snowy roads...One experience of having the snow control my car instead of me, resulting in sliding off the road two years ago, was one too many for me!) So there you have my confession. I heart snow plows. :)