The Christmas Chaos

Usually, I have been blogging about encouraging truths and healthy aspects of life the past few months. Today, however, I am truely going to let it all here as I ponder many lifes uncertainties. The week before Christmas and all through many homes there is chaos and confusion, stress and frustrations. Why is that? Is this our culture, some horrible level of insanity we put ourselves through. Is it the endless parade of unrealistic commercials we see every day on the TV, where the romantic moments when your up tirelessly in the middle of the night with your baby and your husband comes down at 2am with a smile on his face and gives you a pair of diamond earrings just because its a "treasured" time...I am not quite sure who considers those times treasures...i know in my house when its 2am and my baby is not asleep i have never seen diamonds coming from my adoring husband. Who has?? It is that time of year again, when the level of materialism in our society goes through the roof. All of a sudden it is not enough that you have your family all alive and healthy because they want the newest toys, the bigger TV, the better ipod...its endless. And we all get sucked into the mad dash to Wal-Mart, lets not fool oursleves and think you have never ever done the unimagineable and have been right there in the midst of the holiday madness. I have found myself stressed out this year for the simple fact that I have had the most oppostive situation. In our home, we didnt present one another with lists. We did not dream that we would have that one huge suprise this year. My husband lost two jobs this year and to be quite honest its pretty much a miracle half the time we even have money for food. It takes quite an uncertain twist to make you appreciate the fact that you even have another year to celebrate with your family. The holidays seem different this year to me, i thought most of it was due to the fact that I have my own family now and we have our own traditions to start and that is wonderful and new, however, i realized that the difference was not at all what i thought. The difference was that I couldnt get wrapped up in the holiday craze, even if I wanted to, and it made me understand that even though I have been taught from a child up what the true meaning of Christmas was all about I still got off track. There have been times when i did not make it at all about what it really meant. I too got caught up in those silly jewelry commercials which made me long for that kind of sweetness or beautiful new piece of jewelry. What kind of expectations have we put on one another? What kind of expectation have you put on yourself? These types of thing's do not have to happen just this time of year, showing one another you love them comes in many different forms. Celebrating Christmas is and always has been about celebrating the birth of a baby, who not only gave true freedom, but gave the world hope in the midst of the chaos.
I came to visit some family this week and all over the news the ACLU is giving this little tiny courthouse here in Wilkes Barre, Pa, a fit because they have a manger scene. ARE YOU SERIOUS?? Christmas is about the manger. There is no other way around it. We live in America, we celebrate Christmas. There are people who take this freedom and abuse it. We have the liberty and the ability to celebrate and worship as we do because we are a nation "under God" . The moments we start to lose sight of that is a scary place to be. It is God ,who has set men free. It is God , who has allowed us his son as the perfect gift for all mankind. This Christmas is a time to celebrate with your family, and understand why you are celebrating this miraculous holiday!