Here we are again. It's Advent, the time of waiting, anticipation, preparation. A time when so many of us become overwhelmed with all the things on our "to do" list. A time when we wish we could recapture the excitement we felt as children. It seems as though the Christmas season lasted so much longer back then even though the stores didn't put up their decorations until after Thanksgiving. Now we are inundated with ads and commercials starting around Halloween, and before you know it, we are sitting by a rather bedraggled tree with the floor littered with empty boxes and crumpled wrapping paper. And yet again, we have this vague (or maybe not so vague) sense of disappointment. Christmas didn't live up to our expectations. Somehow, we thought that Uncle Tom would refrain from making his politically incorrect pronouncements, that Great Aunt Mabel wouldn't hit anyone with her cane, and that little Lucy wouldn't have one of her epic tantrums. But yet again, our perfect Christmas didn't materialize. Instead of bringing the salad of mixed greens with pears and caramelized hazelnuts we asked for, Aunt Sophy made lime jello with canned cherries, Grandma fainted and the paramedics were called, and we didn't get the presents we had been wanting.
Maybe the problem is with our expectations - and where we are focusing our energy. Is Christmas just about food and family and presents? Doesn't the birth of Jesus come into it? Maybe this year, we can have a simpler Christmas. Prepare for it by reading a book such as Night Visions: Searching the Shadows of Advent and Christmas by Jan Richardson (242.33 RIC in Plymouth Library). Look at The Christmas Story from the King James Version beautifully illuminated by Isabelle Brent (J 232.92 BRE). Listen to music like John Tesh's Christmas Worship (CD TES) or O Holy Night: Christmas with the Boy Choir of Harlem (CD with book illustrated by Faith Ringgold - J782.28 RIN). Here are some more titles: Celebrate Christmas: and the beautiful traditions of Advent. (263.9 CEL), The first Christmas : what the gospels really teach about Jesus's birth by Marcus J Borg (232.92 BOR), Meditations for Advent and Christmas by James G.Kirk (242.33 KIR), or Room to grow : meditations on trying to live as a Christian by Martin B. Copenhaver (242 COP).
For me, I can recapture the excitement of Advent and Christmas by turning to some favorite books. If you look through the Christmas books at Plymouth Library, maybe you will find some that take you back to your childhood. You will surely find many that can become a part of your Christmases to come.
Realize that you may not have a perfect Christmas. I know that I won't get cards back from all the people I send them to. I know that I won't be surrounded by all my loved ones. Our children will be juggling conflicting commitments with in-laws and other family members. (Maybe this year, we'll see everyone on New Year's Day.) Still, I can try to focus on the real meaning of Christmas, on developing new traditions, and on delighting in the little things that so often go unnoticed in our busy world.
And now when we repeat the story of that Christmas when Grandma fainted, the paramedics were called, and we all went to the Emergency Room instead of having dessert, we have added the story of a Christmas Eve when, an hour before twenty guests were expected for dinner, I got a call that a loved one had been taken to hospital in a town a few hours away and about half the guests drove to the hospital. I ended up spending Christmas Day and Boxing Day in the hospital which certainly hadn't been part of my well thought out plan. So far that has not become a new Christmas tradition!