Advent Conspiracy 2011

It's getting to be that time of the year again. 

The air is cool, the trees are bare and the pressure is mounting.  Christmas displays are already set up, 3 weeks earlier and more elaborate than last year.  The new, "must-have" items are being flashed across our TV screens.  We're hearing about all the great incentives to shop; layaway, discounts, points, cash back.  And my personal favorite, the commercials telling us how much we deserve a brand new car or an even bigger TV. OR that trip to Europe.  Or a brand new diamond ring (you know, so I'll remember how much the Mr. loves me.)  Already Black Friday is becoming a topic of conversation.  Sales ads are being leaked.  Hours are being extended.  Schedules readied.  Backrooms stocked.

Yikes.  It's only November 4th and I already feel nauseated. 

What the heck happened here?  How did America (and the world?) manage to take a beautiful holiday like Christmas and turn it into a big, ugly, gluttonous mess?  You know, I remember hearing my mom and grandma talk about their Christmases and things were so different.  Mamaw told stories about her brothers cutting pine trees from the hill behind their house and then the little girls would decorate it with paper ornaments.  Mom used to talk about Christmases at home without frantic trips to see every relative north of the Ohio River.  When did this all begin to change into the monstrous consumer-driven, GO-GO-GO holiday we celebrate now?  Who sold us this lie? 

I'll be the first to confess: I bought into the lie.  I believed it, if not in my mind, in my heart.  If I really loved Isaac, he HAD to have this toy.  And what better way to show Mara how much we loved her than by BUYING some must-have gift.   The more we buy, the more we love them!!! And at first, it was exciting, showering our new children with expensive new things.   But 2 weeks later, those gifts were piled into the back of their closets and the kids were playing with empty boxes, tin foil and lengths of string.  Oh, but the bill remained, as did the feeling that someone had just slipped me a mickey.

So, 2 or 3 years ago, things started to change for us. 

The spending didn't make sense. 

The frantic shopping didn't make sense. 

The huge build-up and the frazzled nerves didn't make sense.

Trying to buy love and meaning didn't make sense. 

That's when we stopped.  Stopped the pointless spending, the irrational worries, the huge build-up, the debt, the anxiety.  And the results have been beautiful.  Peaceful.  No-pressure.  Anxiety-free.  Debt-free. Focused.  Centered on Jesus.

And do you know what.....we enjoy the holiday now. 

We decorate (not out of duty, but out of joy!)  We donate to charity.  We bake.  We sing.  We visit.  Mid-December, we pack snacks and drive out to a particular neighborhood, looking at the lights and enjoying a thermos of hot chocolate.  We take the kids to Clifton Mill and see the waterfall lit up with millions of lights (which is admittedly commercial but absolutely stunning.)  We spend snowy Saturday afternoons in footy-jammies and cold Sunday mornings listening to Christmas carols at church.  Then, my favorite part of the season, we attend the Christmas Eve service and listen to a 1000 voices raised in praise to the King.  Slowly, this holiday is unwinding (rewinding?) and returning to it's origins: a celebration of the Word becoming flesh and living with us for a time...and I think it's breath-taking.

Another big change we've made is we've started celebrating Advent.  While I don't know all the ins and outs of Advent, I know this:  the kids focus on the arrival of Jesus, not Santa Claus.  Each Sunday night during Advent, just before bedtime, we read stories.  About the ancient prophecies, God's promises and the birth of the Messiah.  They look forward to lighting that last candle on Christmas morning because that candle means Jesus was born.  Before the presents, we celebrate His Presence.   

We still give a few meaningful gifts each year, but that's the key: meaningful.  Gifts are carefully thought out and many are handmade.  None are given out of a sense of obligation and what a difference that's made.  And for the past 2 years, we've given Jesus a Christmas gift.  2 years ago, my church dug 4 solar-powered wells in Africa.  Last year, we built a boat to deliver medication to people in South America.   Can't wait to see what we'll do this year.