The True Meaning of Christmas

I don't remember ever feeling so "hum-bug" about Christmas as I have today. Don't get me wrong. I love it. I really do. I just don't love the shear volume of everything that surrounds it. Sometimes it just feels like too much. It's only Dec. 12, and I'm already exhausted and ready to run away ... far away. In the past 12 days, I've had something every single day. And I feel as though in the midst of all the shows and parties and shopping and singing and chores and decorating, I've lost the essence. It's almost as if I've been too busy and worn out to feel the Spirit of the season. And that makes me sad.

There have been a couple of moments, though. One was during "The Nativity." For the past two years, I've participated in a fully-staged live nativity/musical -- lights, full 8-part choir, actors, the whole bit -- during the first weekend in December. It's a lot of work to be in the show (actually the 11 shows in three days last year, reduced to 8 this year), but I know it's worth it if we touch even one heart with the true meaning of Christmas. Christ was born for us. It is such a simple, beautiful message. I know the Spirit was there at the show. And it felt good to seize it, even for a moment.

Another moment was the Joy School Christmas Program. On Tuesday, we trudged through snow and 7-degree weather to take our boys to the assisted living facility where Camden's Great-Grandma Tronette lives. Our little guys worked hard preparing their hand-made cards in class the week previous. According to the Joy School curriculum, we're supposed to go all out and have a full-fledged pageant, but we wimped out a little and just sang songs instead. (Also in part because we have 4 boys in our class, and therefore no Mary.) As the boys handed out their cards and the people beamed, I thought, just for a moment, "This is what it's all about."



And one other moment was during "Christmas with the Colorado Children's Chorale." Trent is currently serving his fourth year on the board for the Colorado Children's Chorale, and it has become a tradition for us to attend this special concert each winter. This year, they began by blacking out the entire hall, and then a young boy soprano came onstage with a candle and sang an a capella solo, "Once in Royal David's City." The Spirit of Christmas touched me in that moment in a way that only music can.

December is crazy, but I'm doing a lot of great things. I guess I'm just learning that as the years pass and my Christmastime schedule gets more and more packed, I need to be able to step back and be in the moment once in a while. Because Christmas is really about the little things, isn't it?