Visions of the perfect Christmas danced in my head. Almost everyone from my side of the family and my husband’s side would be visiting at some point between Christmas and New Years. I was so looking forward to having everyone to our home for the holidays!
Sadly, by the time everyone got here I couldn’t wait for them to leave.
Somewhere in the midst of all the preparations, I got tangled up in Christmas lights and unrealistic expectations.
It all started when my husband and sons petitioned for blinking colored lights on the tree. We don’t do colored lights on the tree. I am a “white lights” kind of girl, I insisted.
That’s when J.J. decided our decorating decisions should be a “family activity” that year. Who was this man and why had he not brought this up in pre-marital counseling? I wondered.
The control freak in me started freaking out. Don’t get in the way of my perfect Christmas with white lights that make me and my home feel peaceful.
I’d dreamed of this day for years and wanted to have the perfect house, perfect menu and perfect table settings. But all hope was dashed when I discovered (the night before) that my Christmas place mats didn’t coordinate at all with my everyday cloth napkins. And, I didn’t have cute festive napkin rings either. Worst of all, I had no clue how to cook a turkey.
When Christmas day came, I had a house full of people but an oh-so-empty heart.
Walking through my living room picking up wrapping paper, I wondered why my dreams of the “perfect Christmas” hadn’t come true. We had kids playing all throughout the house, grandpa was on the couch snoring to the tune of Jingle Bells, and several grown men were playing sidewalk hockey in the driveway.
We’d even lit Advent candles and set out a few nativities. Still, something was missing.
Trying to escape the holiday noise, I went upstairs to our bedroom and sat down on the floor in my walk-in closet. Taking a deep breath, I opened my Bible to read the Christmas story in Luke chapter 2. Slowly, I let each word remind me of that first Christmas night and God’s promise that came true in Bethlehem:
“She gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped Him in cloths and placed Him in a manger…” Luke 2:7 (NIV).
A cross-reference in the margins led me to Isaiah 7:14: “The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and you will call him Immanuel, God with us.”
Closing my eyes, I pictured Mary wrapping baby Jesus. Her hands carefully folding each corner of cloth. Then, like a beautiful bow on the perfect Christmas gift, she placed a kiss on his forehead.
That’s when I realized what had been missing. In the hustle and bustle of creating the perfect Christmas, I’d forgotten to unwrap the perfect gift, the most important gift of all, the gift of Immanuel, God with us.
Bowing my head, I asked God to help me unwrap His presence in my closet that day. I asked Jesus to calm to my anxious heart. To bring His perspective to my expectations and to help me enjoy the gifts of my family that were waiting downstairs. Simply pausing to acknowledge and thank God for being with me brought peace to my heart unlike anything white lights and matching table settings could ever bestow.
And you know what? It ended up being the perfect Christmas after all!