Find Joy in Your Imperfect Christmas

One year, a couple days before Christmas, I found myself holding my seven year old and helping her through the life struggle of having no snow. The conversation went something like this…

Her: wail…sniff sniff…

Me: Sweetheart, what is the matter?

Her: sniff sniff… The weather report says no snow on Christmas, look it’s right here on the phone.

Me:  Well sweetie, we have two choices… let it ruin our Christmas or just decide it’s ok and still enjoy our Christmas without snow.

Her: wail… pout…

Me: Can you control the weather? Can you make it snow?

Her: No

Me:  Who does?

Her: God

Me: Would God want it to ruin our Christmas?

Her: No

Me: God might want us to learn something here … He might want us to learn that we can still have a nice Christmas without snow. He might want us to know that it doesn’t matter what the things we can’t control are like, we can still find joy in Christmas.

Hmmmmm….. I should know that this little sermon was really for me.

Fast forward to Christmas day.

I had been in pain from a pulled wisdom tooth for six out of the last nine days… and I was weary. I I flopped into bed Christmas Eve, thinking about my very un-perfect and messy house, and what a bad Christmas Eve it had turned out to be.

Christmas morning found me up early. The night had been rough; the youngest had been up a lot; and I had dealt with more tooth pain during the night. I started to quietly clean up the mess and get things “perfect” for when my family woke up on the special day.

I dug out the Christmas tablecloth, but there was no centerpiece to be found.

I plugged in the Christmas tree and lights… yep that stubborn string of lights decided today was one of those off days where it could stop shining halfway thru the strand.

I set the scattered nativity pieces back in the stable (don’t worry, it’s a plastic set that they play with) … hmmmm, Mary is missing, oh- Joseph is too. Well, the shepherd will just have to do.

Do you see my dilemma?

Nothing was turning out quite right. First a wisdom tooth hurting, no centerpiece, stubborn lights, and no Mary to be seen. I remembered my “sermon” to my little girl, and I replayed it… this time to myself.

Me: “Trudie, is there anything you can do about these things that you view as missing from your perfect Christmas?”

Also Me: No. Well yeah, I could have stayed up later, I could be more organized, I COULD be a BETTER MOM.”

((Has anyone else ever said that? If I would just be a BETTER MOM… please say I’m not alone.))

What do you think Jesus whispered? (I didn’t hear His audible whisper, but in my heart He said… “Trudie, you have a choice. Are you going to let it ruin your Christmas, or are you just going to decide it’s ok and still enjoy your Christmas with tooth pain, missing centerpieces, broken lights, and a missing Mary?“

Still more, “Trudie, I am trying to teach you something here. I want you to learn that you can still have a nice Christmas without it being PERFECT. You CAN still find joy in an Imperfect Christmas.“

Friend, I don’t know what your Christmas week will look like… will it turn out to be as perfect as you want it to be? Or do you need Jesus to whisper these words to your heart…

“___(insert your name)___, you have a choice. Are you going to let it ruin your Christmas, or are you just going to decide it’s ok and still enjoy your Christmas with _____ (insert all the imperfect things).    I am trying to teach you something here. I want you to learn that you can still have a nice Christmas without it being PERFECT. You CAN still find joy in an Imperfect Christmas.”

I hope you have a perfectly imperfect Christmas. 💗