JYC Day 6 - Keeping calm and Christmassy

Having been extremely busy throughout  November with work and homelife, I now feel entitled to sit back and enjoy December. Today I posted all my cards and almost completed my shopping (1 more trip to Toys R Us for 2 boxes of Lego, and I'm done.) It helps, of course, that my adult classes finish this week so that the last 2 weeks of term I only have to teach the 6th formers and do administrative jobs, thus allowing me time to watch the kids' Christmas plays etc without work conflict.

I love the build up to Christmas and I don't find it stressful (even the madness in the supermarkets doesn't bother me too much.) I love choosing, buying and wrapping special gifts for special people. I love cooking and eating delicious food. I also love the permission Christmas gives me to plan and organise all these things. My inner Domestic Goddess, rears her ugly head at the beginning of November and then goes back into hiberation on 6th January.

I try hard not to be smug while all around me are stressing Christmas, but I'm aware I don't always succeed!

However, amid the chaos, Christ is still at the centre of my Christmas and making time to go to church, expecially for the Carol Service and the Christmas Eve Christingle Service, keeps me grounded and helps me focus on what is really important in this season of excess. Other than Carols by Candlelight, I don't recall this being a big part of Christmas when I was a child, but since becoming a Mum I have been a much more regular churchgoer, and I feel strongly that it is important for R and M to recognise the Christian message behind the pile of presents they will open on 25th December.