Christmas

I started listening to Christmas music last week.  It was kind of by accident, but I loved it and now I've listened to it several more times this week.  And I am excited about it.  I love everything about Christmas!  I love the story, and the reason we celebrate!  I love the smells, and the food and the family and the cards and the lights and the music...I love it all!

Every year I am anxious to celebrate Christmas.  I want to start getting presents ready in July and even listen to music...and sometimes I do both.  But then I feel a little silly and a little guilty, just because Christmas has become so commercialized, I don't want to fall into that mentality.  Then last year, I decided that it is silly to not start preparing for Christmas in July.  Whenever anyone gets pregnant, we celebrate.  We send our congratulations, we pray for a healthy pregnancy and birth, we throw baby showers, we pick out nursery colors...all kinds of stuff.  So why wouldn't we do the same kinds of preparation/celebration things before Christmas; the time when we are supposed to be celebrating our Saviour's birth.  I decided three things.  1)That Jesus' birth should be just as special as any other baby that is born today 2) That I should go ahead and start planning and celebrating and expecting a wonderful birth day 3) That because of the first 2 things, I should not feel silly or guilty about being excited about Christmas no matter if it is July or November or December 24.

So this year, I did not feel guilty when I played Christmas music in July.  I did not get as upset at the stores when they put up their Christmas trees the day after Halloween (although that is still so irritating that it is no longer a day to celebrate the birth of our King but a greedy opportunity to squeeze money out of the selfish, general public--obviously I am still working on this one).  I did not feel guilty picking out Christmas presents in September.  I did not feel guilty when I started listening to Christmas music last week.  In fact, today as I listened to it I got very excited that my outlook on the preparation of Christmas has changed.  And I am very excited for the season and the coming day!