Every year, I tell myself that this Christmas will be different. This year, I’ll get my shopping finished early, so I won’t be frantically wrapping gifts on Christmas Eve. This year, I’ll bake lots of cookies. This year, I’ll read Christmas-themed devotionals.

Well, this year, I kept a watchful eye on my calendar. Christmas simply wasn’t going to sneak up on me anymore, the way it always did when I was busy worrying about college finals, or recovering from the high of our wedding and honeymoon. So this year, I was counting down the days until Thanksgiving, when the Christmas season officially “begins” for most of us. Guess what? This Christmas, even though I looked for it on the horizon back when it was so far away I needed a telescope, is off to exactly the same start. My decorations aren’t up, and I have yet to even rearrange the furniture to make way for the tree. My beautiful new nativity scene is still in its box. I’ve already given up on my first cookie baking deadline. And I’ve bought a grand total of three gifts . . . which are more like stocking stuffers, really.

But you know what? That’s just the way my Christmases unfold. Slowly. It will all happen, but rarely as soon or easily as I would like. But the Advent wreath at church will be lit again this Sunday, whether or not I have a wreath of my own hanging on my front door.

I’ll console myself with the fact that Jesus didn’t exactly have a room full of fancy decor on the first Christmas, either. At least I’ll console myself with that until I have rooms full of decor.
 ~ Laura