The Reason For The Season

Today’s Christmas Eve. Are you ready?

This year has been one of the most stressful holiday years for me in quite a while. I got sick the day before Thanksgiving with laryngitis which robbed me of two weeks of sleep, sent me into coughing-up-a-lung fits for three weeks, and put me so far behind in my Christmas preparations that I’m not only stressed but worn out.

Normally, I’d do something intricate like put up my Christmas village or set out my huge nativity collection, lay the luminarias along the garden walls, and elaborately decorate the big artificial Christmas tree. (I have enough ornaments to do at least five different theme trees. Yes, I do go overboard a bit.)  My decorating schedule takes a full week or more. Then there is the big Christmas cookie bake—a tradition in our house that takes my daughter and me about 7 hours to complete. The recipe is from Grandma Maude whose cookie tin I inherited.

 Oh, we baked the cookies this year. It’s a ritual that has to be done, otherwise it’s not Christmas in our house. I paid for it the next day in aching muscles and sore feet. Standing for hours on end rolling out cookie dough, cutting it into Christmas shapes and decorating them gets harder every year.  (It’s amazing what a few extra years does to one’s body.)

But as for the rest, I scrimped. No big tree for us this year, in spite of the daughter’s plea for family pictures in front of the tree, like we always do.

This year I took the easy way out and put up Grandma Maude’s retro aluminum tree.

I hung the bannister garland, pushed my battery-operated candles to the side of the buffet and added some poinsettias to my southwest vase and a rustic NOEL where the village or nativities normally rest.

I bought all but 2 of my gifts online. I broke the shopping for family dinners into multiple short trips, and when there was a motorized cart, I ignored my pride and rode the cart to save me from aching knees and back pain. After all, I had too much to do at home to waste my energy on pushing a grocery cart.

I’m ready now, except for the baking the experimental loaf of zucchini bread I’d planned on creating Sunday afternoon.

But Sunday morning in worship service I was reminded of something that the commercial rush, and the Christmas traditions I’d placed on myself, had pushed to the background. Christmas isn’t about all the things I’ve mentioned.

Christmas is about God’s sacrifice. Christmas is about God’s love. Christmas is about Jesus.



Artwork by Catherine Castle (c) 2007

Christmas is about God’s gift.

 

Don’t get me wrong. As a Christian I know what Christmas is about, but I let myself get so caught up in preparations that the business took away from the joy of the season. Whether I get the house perfectly spotless for guests and dazzling with twinkling Christmas decorations, provide a table groaning under the weight of delicious food, find the perfect gift for everyone, or be the impeccable hostess doesn’t really matter. What does matter is that I acknowledge the reason for the season and the perfect gift that was given to me, and to you—Jesus. The Lamb who takes away our sins.

 

So if you’re not quite ready for Christmas on this Christmas Eve, don’t worry. God is ready for you. All you have to do is kneel before the manger, remember what He has done for us, and accept his love. That’s the only thing that really matters this Christmas season.

 

Merry Christmas Everyone!

May the blessings of this Holy Season be yours, now and forever.

 

About the Author

Catherine Castle has been writing all her life. Before beginning her career as a romance writer she worked part-time as a freelance writer. She has over 600 articles and photographs to her credit, under her real name, in the Christian and secular market. Besides writing, Catherine loves traveling with her husband, singing, and attending theatre. In the winter she loves to quilt and has a lot of UFOs (unfinished objects) in her sewing case. In the summer her favorite place to be is in her garden. She’s passionate about gardening and even won a “Best Hillside Garden” award from the local gardening club.

Her debut inspiration romantic suspense, The Nun and the Narc, from Soul Mate Publishing was an ACFW Genesis Finalist, a 2014 EPIC finalist, and the winner of the 2014 Beverly Hills Book Award and the 2014 RONE Award. Her newest book, a romantic comedy with a touch of drama, entitled A Groom For Mama, from Soul Mate Publishing, is a 2018 Raven Award winner for contemporary romance. You can follow her on Twitter @AuthorCCastle, Facebook or through her blog Romance for the Ages