Advent vs. Christmas

Advent (the anticipation of The Coming of Christ) has been extra special to me this year. I think Christmas (the day of Dec. 25th) can be such a let-down, mainly because of the hype and anticipation that is brought upon the giving of gifts, the festive parties... BUT, this year, I've been following LifeWay's Advent devotional series and it's been extra meaningful. Each day I'm able to follow a small piece of the Birth Story, and I feel like I'm truly anticipating Christ... NOT just Dec. 25th.

As of TODAY, I've been to lots of festivities:
. A Church Staff Christmas Party (brought a dessert)
. The 3rd Annual White Christmas showing at Lisa G's house (dinner, dessert, & movie)
. A Ministerial Staff Ladies Lunch (swapped gifts at a nice seafood lunch)
. A Sunday School Christmas Dinner at Jan B's house (food & dirty santa)
. Christmas by Candlelight (Sunday night Christmas Performance by our church choir)

Coming up:
. A Staff Ladies/Staff Wives Recipe Swap (bringing an appetizer, dinner provided, dirty santa)
. A Student Staff Party tomorrow (dinner catered, dirty santa, and games in the NEW Student Building)
. A Cookie Swap (baking 3 dozen cookies)
. Taking Heather G shopping for her parent's gifts
. Baking cookies with Faith and Anna

It's a whirl-wind that can easily get anyone off course, but following Advent in my spiritual life has been grounding!

This is also the time of year that I look back over my year, think about the ups and downs and truly see the big picture of what God's done in me the last 11 months. Hind-sight really is 20/20 and I'm so thankful God allows me to remember the past and see His hand in it all!

Another addition to my Christmas this year is a new tradition of sending Christmas cards to friends and family. In the past, I felt like I needed something 'great' to celebrate or 'someone to celebrate them with' in order to make/send a card. The older I get, the more I realize that the celebration of what God has done in my life that year is MORE THAN ENOUGH to celebrate with others and I felt compelled to send a card, join in the USPS fun, and wish my friends and family the Joy that I have found this year!