Don't let "christmas" ruin your "Christmas".

That right. I said it.  Commercial christmas is ruining Christmas for many of us and we don't even know it.  I won't even say that I am not going to "fall into the trap" of a commercialized christmas.  It's not a trap.  It's a way of life!!
How many frantic days do you spend in December?  I found myself right in the middle of the chaos this weekend.  I HAD to get the house cleaned up.  I HAD to decorate.  I worried cause I got both my sisters two items but one sister's items cost more than the other sister's items so do I need to go buy one more thing to make the money even or do I stay with two items each so one doesn't get more than the other?  What about my great nieces.  I love them dearly and want to get them something cause they are the only children in the family but do I really need to get them one more toy that their mother will have to pick up?  (Course I will get them something cause children are the very best to buy for but it is totally for selfish reasons.  I want to!!) Anyway, I was NOT having fun.  All these tasks and decisions and money worries were stressing me out.  What happens is you spend all this stressful time preparing for a MOMENT just for the MOMENT to pass and then you feel let down cause it is over so quickly. So I decided to STOP.

I know this is not a new idea, but this year I am going to treat the holidays as it should be treated.  As is everything in life, Christmas is a journey, not a destination. 

This year I pledge NOT to frantically fight the crowds for "just the right gift" that people that I barely know don't need or even want. I WILL NOT be devastated if my house is not spit polish clean and decorated like a Macy's window.  I WILL NOT spend every waking minute worrying that I might be forgetting something or someone.  I WILL NOT go  into debt so I can spend half the year paying for half an hour of opening gifts that, as I said earlier, people probably don't want or need.  I WILL NOT spend half the day on the 25th in the kitchen slaving over the stove to make sure we have every food group known to man represented on the table just to spend the other half of the day cleaning up the mess. 

What I WILL do is buy that special item that I come across that I know a loved one would appreciate and cherish.  I WILL straighten up my house while listening to Christmas Carols and sipping Christmas Tea. I WILL put lights and ornaments on the Weeping Fig tree that lives in my living room.  I WILL spend what I can comfortably afford to give to the special people in my life that I care about.  I WILL spend Christmas Day in the kitchen with my daughter laughing and putting something together for Christmas dinner be it turkey, steaks, ham and eggs or sandwiches. 

See, I don't want to see Christmas as an EVENT. I want it to be a special celebration of Jesus birth that lives within our hearts and treating it as such will fill your soul with happiness and peace.  Christmas is a time to rejoice with family and friends and be thankful for what God has given us. 

"And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night.  An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified.  But the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid.  I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all people.  Today, in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord.  This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger."
Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying, "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests."
Book of Luke


Merry Christmas to all!!!  May you all have a joyful, relaxing, and happy holiday. 

Note to self

Put money in your 401k.  You just can't depend on dying before you retire!!!

Yes Virginia, there is a Santa Clause

 Course, I have no idea who Virginia is.  Just one of those saying from an old movie (I guess) that keeps on going on.  It really should say, Yes Leslie, There is a God. 

See, for the first time in a VERY long time, (longer than I can remember) I am thinking about the future. Not in a philisophical way.  I mean the REAL future.  The "what am I going to be doing in 10 years, how can I afford retirement" future.  See I have not been planning for any future cause on January 23, 1995, my future was taken away. 

It was on that date that I was diagnosed with Hepatitis C and told that they (the all knowing doctors) could not guarantee that I would survive ten years.  I was 37 years old with a nine year old son and a 6 year old daughter and didn't expect to live long enough to see one or both out of high school.  That was 16 years ago and here I am. Six years past my expiration date.  My son is now 27 years old and my daughter 24.  I lived to see them both graduate high school, go on to college, fall in love, fall out of love, move more times than I wanted to help them with, bury their father and grow into wonderful, loving, self sufficient (sort of) adults. 

I will go into more detail in later posts, but to explain my statement, I need to tell you that I will be starting treatment for my Hepatitis in May of 2011.  There is a 25% chance that the treatment will rid my body of the virus in which case I have the opportunity (God willing) to go on to live a long normal life if I don't do anything stupid like step out in front of a bus. (Which brings up the subject, why does everyone use this as the example of their unexpected demise.  Are there that many buses out there running down seemingly innocent people???)

Anyway,
That I may live past the next holiday or next season has not been in the front of my mind for years.  Not that I went around all gloom and doom like I had a sword over my head.  I just chose not to think about it.  I don't live life day to day but more like summer to summer ( I am very cold natured).

Now I have to plan.  Takes some getting used to. 

More later.