Catching the Spirit of Christmas...

Not sure why, but I just wasn't ready for Christmas this year. I admit, I didn't want to listen to Christmas music until last week. I can't seem to get excited about Christmas shopping. I put up minimal Christmas decorations. I didn't even plan the annual (no longer annual) ugly ornament exchange.

What makes Christmas feel like Christmas? Snow? Pretty lights? Carols and candles? What happened to celebrating Jesus' birth? Where does that come into the picture? Over and over in my head I keep asking myself "what's the point?" We spend so much money at Christmas, for what? To get money spent on us too? No, no, no, really, I know that's not it. But doesn't it really feel like it? And so many of us right now don't have the extra money. We can't really be surprised when so many people are frustrated and grumpy this time of year.

So we go to the mall and first try to figure out which end of the mall to go to. (Which is usually the wrong end.) Then we try to find a parking spot. We circle the parked cars waiting for brake lights and then hoping they're leaving and not just pulling in. Of course we run into 2 or 3 other cars going for the same spot. (And the grumpiness doesn't help this situation.) Finally we find a spot that no one else is going for - and we're grateful that it only took 10 minutes. Then we make the decision - take the coat in and carry it around for hours, or leave it in the car and freeze to death. (It was 3 degrees when we left the mall tonight. The "feels like" was -18 degrees.)

Then we head to our store of choice with coupons in hand. Prices are really great, but they've cut the number of workers in half, so trying to find help is difficult. We have to be patient, but there's always those that are out for a better deal by complaining loudly to a manager in order to get another 10% off. (Is it worth it?) And the poor retail people, who have to put up with us while working until midnight each night, have little Christmas cheer either.

Like I said, where does celebrating the birth of our Savior fit into all of this? How do we get into the real Christmas spirit when things seem so helpless, hopeless? What is the real spirit of Christmas?

I found my answer. It might be different than yours, but it definitely worked for me. Serving others. Finding a need and doing what you can to meet that need. Even if it's just taking an extra moment to smile at someone and saying "Merry Christmas."

Yesterday our church had their annual Christmas party. The party involves serving a banquet-style dinner for 1,400 people in need and giving out almost 900 gifts to the children there. I really needed to be part of the party this year. Walking around and seeing people who were truly happy, really enjoying their time with family, laughing, and even skipping around, really helped me see that so many in need still remembered what Christmas was all about. For me, serving people meant doing face painting for 2 hours. I'm really great at snowmen on the cheek! I also did Santa, presents, poinsettias, Christmas trees, and candy canes. And so many of those that I got to interact with through painting their faces were teenagers or adults. The Christmas party fun is definitely not just for the kids. :)

Then today the real fun started. First there was choir practice at 8:00 am. Our little alto group is just four women, but I really love those women - Marti, Nancy, and Sally. We've had so much fun getting to know each other over the last few weeks of practice. Yes, choir is about singing, but there's also a kinship that is created by trying to help each other and staying together.

Then at 9:00 am we had worship team practice. Today was my first time singing on the worship team. I auditioned before Thanksgiving and Jim (the worship leader) put me on the schedule for toay. I didn't think about it too much, I just didn't want to get nervous. The songs were all so familiar and I've sang the harmonies almost every time I've sang the songs. The only difference was this time I was singing into a microphone. Oh, and standing in front of everyone, instead of hiding back at the soundbooth.

Church started at 10:15 and after Kevin opened with prayer, we started singing. What an experience! It was incredible watching everyone singing and getting into worship. I had so much fun and it was like I was hanging out singing with friends. And I just loved singing my favorite Christmas song, What Child Is This, and my favorite worship song, Praise Is Rising (Hosanna). It was just such an incredible experience. I asked Jim if I could sing with them again and he said I was going to stay in the rotation of singers. (Yay!)

After church we had a Christmas get-together at a friends house. We ended up hanging out with some of the funniest people we've met at the Dayton Campus. It was good to just sit, eat, tell stories and laugh. Then we had to rush off to go to the Fairfield Commons to wrap gifts. Our church wraps gifts for free every year as an outreach to the community. We were part of the 4-6 pm group, and also the 6-8 pm group. I helped wrap gifts for about 3 of those 4 hours. About the time I got tired of wrapping gifts, it was 8pm and the last shift of people starting coming in. Perfect timing!

There are a lot of stories that came out of wrapping gifts, and I don't have the time to share them all. However, I will say that everyone was smiling and chatting like we all knew each other and so many of us met for the first time that day. We got to talk to people while we wrapped gifts and hear their stories. So many wanted to give donations, but that's not why we do it. (And we don't take donations.) We tell them that we're just showing God's love in a practical way. And they seem to understand.

The Christmas spirit finally got me this weekend. I've got my focus back. And the presents waiting to be given are a sign of how much I love those that are in my life.

I need to share other stories from our Christmas experience, but I've run out of time for tonight. Stay tuned, we got a visit from Santa (and have photos with him), and we also put up a palm tree for our Christmas tree this year (and photos of this too). I'm sure I have pictures from the Christmas party that I can post too, but that will have to be tomorrow.