Life is What Happens When...

Everyone's heard the adage alluded to at the top of this post. Life is what happens when you're making other plans. Well, you know what?

Christmas is what happens when you're making other plans, too.

By traditional standards within my family, this holiday season has been a disaster of titanic proportions. Here it is, Dec 20th and the only cookies I've made have been donated to the fire stations in South Cumberland. We didn't put up our tree until last Saturday, didn't decorate it until the 18th (Tuesday). I haven't made (much less distributed) holiday jingles to friends & neighbors - indeed, I didn't even settle on what those jingles would be until yesterday. I bought bakery cookies to take to a Christmas party last week - an unprecedented event for yours truly. I haven't bought my Christmas cards yet. Which says nothing of the gifts still to be purchased.

This would be in direct contrast to my regular holiday season, which is about as traditional as I can possibly make it. Trust me, if you strictly regiment your time from Thanksgiving onward (I even schedule my baking, for pity's sake), you can make your holiday season so Norman Rockwell it's spooky.

Not this year.

This year, Christmas has been happening while I've been making other plans.

Christmas happened at the party I mentioned last week. I desperately rushed to pick up cookies from the bakery, but Christmas happened when the President of Toys for Happiness picked up party-goer's donations halfway through.

Christmas happened when I set up a tree and decorated my Sunday School room, even though our tree at home remained in the box.

Christmas happened when I baked 2 batches of peanutbutter cup cookies for the South Cumberland firemen, even though I haven't baked goodies for our respective families just yet.

Christmas happened when we saved change for my boys' Lottie Moon offering (amazing how much change I tend to accumulate in a month!), when I rushed to get out reimbursement checks so church members would be paid back for church expenses before the holidays, with each of the half dozen (and counting) packages of candy canes that I keep giving away. Christmas happened when my new van's battery died and a stranger stopped to offer to help and a co-worker took time out of his schedule to pick us up.

There are a million and one emergencies that have cropped up in the past few weeks. Jobs and expenses I hadn't planned on. Things that intruded on my strict holiday schedule. Getting in my way. Throwing me off.

But Christmas happened, anyway.

Christmas is happening still.

With only a few days before Christmas, I know everyone's rushing madly around with a kazillion items on their respective to-do lists. I know there are people like me, beating themselves up because they didn't get some things done or didn't do them as well as they wanted and goodness gracious, unless the 24hr day magically stretches to 30hrs (preferably 40), there just isn't enough time, is there?

But while you're racing about this holiday season, in these busy days before we celebrate the birth of our Savior, STOP!!!

That's right.

Stop.

Just for a second.

Look.

Listen.

Christmas is happening all around you. The spirit of the season is unfolding before you. Even when everything is going wrong. Especially when everything is going wrong.

By my family's traditions, this holiday season has been an unmitigated catastrophe, but in our hearts, even in the hearts of my children, this has been one of our best holy-day seasons yet.

And if you see me at the mall this morning, wave. Say hi. We'll all still be crazy, but you'll be one smile (and one candy cane LOL) richer.