Avoiding the Christmas Crush

     November stands at the beginning of a very busy time of year. Now that the Election is over, people are thinking about Thanksgiving and the Christmas Season. Late Autumn and the first two weeks of winter are filled with many activities and special time with family. This season, which is usually just after the first freeze of the year is the time to pull out your calendar in order to make plans for everything that needs to be done.

     In only a few weeks we will celebrate Thanksgiving, with its accompanying family meal, football games, parades and black friday sales. All these take preparation. There are people to invite to our home (or travel plans if we are going somewhere else) for a feast of turkey and all the fixings. Shopping lists need to be created for the festive dinner, football snacks and black Friday sales.
     Thanksgiving, with its black Friday events leads us into the busy month of December. This is a month of parties, church activities, community events, year end closeouts, and preparation for Christmas. Preparation of the calendar alone, with it’s multiple conflicts can be a nightmare. It is best to do this month ahead (in November), in order to avoid as many problems as possible. For those traveling, this is especially important to catch the sales and deadlines before price increases.
     Strategic planning at the beginning of November can help a lot during the busy month between Thanksgiving and Christmas. A bit of pre-holiday organization of time can prevent conflicts and their associated headaches. A thoroughly drafted agenda will make sure nothing slips through the cracks during the busy weeks between the turkey dinner and the Christmas gift unwrapping event.
     If the schedule is unplanned, some necessary details of the holidays will be omitted. What can this be? The central item of the season which has not yet been suggested: the taking in and the sharing with others the all important matters of faith that are central to Thanksgiving and Christmas.
     Consider, how will you weave the central objective of gratitude into your Thanksgiving? How will you ingrain faith sharing into the advent season. In what way will you celebrate the birth of Jesus on Christmas morning? Don’t let the mundane and less important “necessities” crowd out the real reason for the season.
     I discovered many years ago the necessity of taking part of a day to weave a faith agenda into my December calendar. Without planning, the legacy of my family’s Christmas memories would only be the gifts they received. But I did not allow that to happen … and I hope you will not permit a secular Christmas to occur in your home either.

     Do you need help with your holiday plans? Take a look at my web-page www.KosherCopy.com. On top of the page you will see a tab that says Advent. There are two items on the drop down menu: Advent Calendar and Advent Activities. Click on Advent Activities to discover multiple ideas (which will work for families with children of any age). The PDF document (free) will help you create a Christmas that brings home the real reason for the season and celebrates the coming of the Savior, Jesus.

     Please also take note of the book Advent Journeys, which appears just to the left of this blog. The contents of this book will transport you to first century Bethlehem as it recreates the events of the first Christmas. This is not a book filled with homespun homilies, but short daily readings to help you join Mary and Joseph for the first Christmas, the best Christmas ever, because it is the foundation stone and beginning of all Christmases that have or ever will occur.