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I make lists. So many lists. Nothing soothes my “plan all the things” anxiety like an Excel sheet with many tabs, or a paper planner with all the customized sections I need.
In the past few years, I’ve seen several planners (or sections of planners) dedicated specifically to holiday planning. And it’s no wonder! There is so much to keep track of — Advent observances, gift ideas and budgets, baking plans, decorating details, movies to watch, shopping to do, travel or hosting preparation, and concerts, parties, and other activities filling up the calendar. Not to mention the special feasts—putting together a Christmas dinner can take choreography so precise even the Rockettes couldn’t keep up!
Perhaps it’s not surprising, then, that many of the holiday planners I’ve seen are focused on simplifying. “You can’t do it all!” they say, and they’re probably right. Few of us have the time, energy, or money to do every single thing we might enjoy in these few short weeks. Some years are harder than others, depending on health, work, grief and countless other factors.
But it is possible to fall into the opposite ditch instead. If we simplify too much, suddenly Christmas is just … ordinary. The weeks of Advent don’t mean much if we aren’t preparing for anything, and the days of the Christmas feast fall flat when they look exactly like all our other days.
By no means must we exhaust ourselves to celebrate the birth of our Savior — a birth of extreme humility, after all! Christmas is not about the gifts or décor, the food or events, the spending or striving.
But it does behoove us to consider carefully how we can rejoice in this great gift of God without exhausting ourselves. That’s where the planners are helpful — directing us to make our holiday commitments thoughtfully and intentionally.
The incarnation of our Lord is cause for celebration! God himself took on our flesh, miraculously and unexpectedly. And he did it to save us — all out of sheer love. In the face of such incredible love, of course heaven and nature must sing!
Christmas shouldn’t look like all our other days. Naturally, that will mean something different for each of us. But surely we can all find ways to delight in the coming of our Lord — without overextending ourselves into fatigue or withdrawing into grinchiness.
However you strike the balance, may your Christmas be merry and bright!
