Christmas-Crazed Mama

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My palms are tingling. My legs are restless. I pace from one room to the next, all the while sending frantic glances towards the basement stairs. Anxiousness exudes from my core. I'm ready & chomping at the bit. What has me so hyped up? In 15 days I will decorate our home for Christmas! From ceiling to floor every single room will be decked out, & I absolutely cannot wait! On Wednesday, November 21 the Lone Ranger will leave for work with our abode covered in leaves & scarecrows only to return home to a winter wonderland. It's downright magical! It is a profound understatement to say that I enjoy the Christmas season...I squeeze every last drop of joy out of the holiday. For 25 days leading up to the grand event we watch Christmas movies, read Christmas books, make Christmas candies, do Christmas crafts, go see Christmas lights....you get it, I'm sure. The only thing I do not do at Christmas is wear the silly sweater. This family does Christmas, & we do it BIG. Every year the day after Christmas our tree comes down, the Christmas decorations go back in their box, & make the dismal trip down to the basement...why? Because seeing it reminds me that there will be another 365 days until Christmas comes around again.  Some of you might be concerned that I have gotten wrapped up (pun intended) in the secular nature of the holiday, rest assured I have not. Others of you might be thinking, "this fruit loop sure loves baby Jesus," & you'd be right, I do...but my great excitement about the holiday has nothing to do with the Cradle & everything to do with the Cross...

I've always enjoyed the holiday season. I've always kept in mind the cutesy little sayings, "Jesus is the Reason for the Season" & "it's not about presents but His presence." Oh yes, I'd always kept in perspective what Christmas really was about, but in the space of a moment I knew that Christmas would never be the same for me again. The day I became a mother realization dawned within me. I'll never forget that day, the day of discovering that life was growing within me. It was a life altering, faith changing moment. On September 19, 2008, I finally grasped the true meaning of Christmas. I thought of Mary that day. The scriptures referring to her immaculate conception came to mind & suddenly reading them was more than just a story to me. The day my little miracle came into the world, I thought of Mary again. I understood how she must have felt as she looked upon that precious child. As Goldilocks grew, I often thought of Mary watching her son grow. The bittersweet moments of triumph as a baby learns something new, the endeavor to soak in those fleeting moments of childhood, the burden to prepare the little one for all that lies ahead.  During my first Christmas season as a mother my cheeks hurt from grinning as I watched my darling girl gaze in wonder at Christmas lights & ravage wrapping paper on her gifts. During my first Easter as a mother, I wept...before Goldilocks, I could not truly understand, truly grasp Grace. As the Lone Ranger & I read the story of the crucifixion, my heart broke for Mary. I thought of the few times that my little one had gotten hurt or of when she was sick & how those moments hurt me more than her, & suddenly with a parent's eyes I understood the sacrifice. Before I was a mother I did not/could not fully appreciate God as a Father, as Abba. All at once I could, to some degree, picture the immensity of His love. To envision both the joy & the loss of sending Jesus as a tiny babe & of watching him grow into a man. To imagine the pain of watching His son suffer, of allowing it for the sake of those far from worthy...well it was more than I could bear. My faith became real when I became a mother, & as I experienced anew those first holidays as a parent I realized the immensity of those celebrations, of the acknowledgement of what Christmas & Easter truly mean. I could easily speak to you that standard Christian jargon & explanations, but to feel it, well that was something that changed my life. All at once I knew that Christmas was not about the manger. It was not about an agonizingly painful natural delivery. It was not about a sweet gurgling precious baby. It was about LIFE...NEW LIFE. Christmas is about the Cross...it's about the journey from the Cradle to the Cross. The birth of Jesus is priceless & precious because of His death. He received the gifts of gold, frankincense, & myrrh but He gave the gift of life...life eternal. His coming into the world is to be honored because when He left this world He left the gift of salvation. As I pass on to my darlings age old traditions, as the Lone Ranger & I create new ones, we inundate our daughters with the true meaning of the holiday...as best we can until they one day become parents themselves & fully grasp the immensity of Christmas. Christmas marks the moment when the Father put His grand plan into action. It is the starting line of a race that resulted in a prize we could never obtain on our own. It is not the celebration of one event, but honoring of countless choices & decisions made for our gain. Each year as we approach this advent season, the excitement once again builds within me. The JOY of knowing that my Abba loved me so much that He sent His only Son to grant to me life eternal...well that Joy is more than I can contain. This year Goldilocks is asking questions, & I am doing my best to have the answers. 

In 15 days I will unabashedly become a Christmas-Crazed Mama...for all of the right reasons.  I will endeavor to raise a generation of women who will one day do the same for their children...all in the hopes of creating a generation & a culture in love with Jesus Christ. My prayer is that for you this holiday season will come alive within your hearts, & that it will ignite a passion to share that life with your children :o)  Be Blessed!