Holiday or Headache?
-December 7, 2009-Comments (0)
There are only 18 more shopping days until Christmas! What feeling does that fact bring out of you? Excitement ... or panic? What is so stressful about our Christmas season? Why is it that this season we observe as a holy day often turns into a headache instead?In her article "Holiday or Headache?" (in the December 2009 issue of ParentLife), author Robin Chaddock helps families know how to make sure to keep Christmas a holiday and not a headache this year! To help parents keep focus, she provided us with the following four questions to ask yourself about Christmas. Above all, she stresses that Christmas should be a holiday of the heart!
- When you think about getting ready for Christmas, what is the thing that stresses you out most?
- What are your Christmas Kookies — the crazy little ideas that you think have to be done or the Christmas season will not be right?
- What have you been doing because it is expected or a habit but could probably be dropped from your schedule? What truly makes Christmas meaningful for you?
- As you look over the ways below to have a clear heart for Christmas, which of these might you choose to do and how?
H – Hand over the clutter — physical, mental, emotional, spiritual.
E – Experience your senses. Take in the sights, sounds, and tastes of the holidays.
A – Attend to God’s voice, remembering that God speaks in many ways.
R – Rethink your expectations. Are they realistic? Are they yours?
T – Take inventory of your attitudes with a focus on gratitude.
What steps do you take to make sure the focus is on Jesus this holiday season?
