Thoughts

As November ended, not too long ago, I remember thinking "thank goodness!" The month of November was crazy in our home. Not sure why really, but as the 30th came to an end I was so expectant of December 1st! I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE December. I love the holidays, the family time, the traditions, the shopping, the celebrations, and ( 97% of the time) the stress associated with all of it! I always have, ever since I was little. Christmas has always been magical to me! With us being in our new home, our first house, I was even more excited, and expectant of the new traditions we would start and all the plans I had - in my head. Honestly, I looked forward to doing crafts, decorating, planning, shopping and so much more.
So December 1st came, and I started decorating, planning, and listening non-stop to Christmas music and introducing Bug to the beauty of the season. Then, I cleaned my kitchen! The goal was to clean it while putting away fall decor and then decorating it for Christmas.
While cleaning I found a water puddle under our kitchen table. That night, off course, I told Jared who discovered water damage all the way down to the subfloor. Long story short,  he found water damage ALL OVER OUR KITCHEN FLOOR. This started two weeks of no kitchen use, tears, frustration, decisions, and getting a new floor!
I wish I could write about how joyfully, peacefully and lovingly I accepted the news about the floor. However, I lack lots of grace in stressful situations. So now I  sit in my unorganized, half way decorated house and realize perhaps God was growing me.
Feeling so incredibly overwhelmed about the kitchen and the mess it has come with, we haven't gotten many of my original plans done. There have been no Christmas crafts, there have been no new traditions (getting a new kitchen floor during the holidays is something I do not wish to repeat ever!), there definitely hasn't been any cookie making/ decorating with Bug. Honestly, so far the season feels as far away from Christmas as it could be. It would not be truthful if I said I wasn't very disappointed. After all the plans and goals I had, there is very little to show for it.  Then I realized remembered that Christmas is not about me!

It's not about how clean and perfectly decorated my house is.
It's not about how many crafts and activities we do.
It's not about listening to carols every minute.
It's not about my plans or goals.
It's not about how many gifts I buy in a day.
It's not about all the decorations.
It's not about me.

Christmas is Christmas in spite of me, in spite of my plans, goals and traditions. Jesus came to this world to bring peace without my help and without my celebrations. Better, He doesn't care about that! So instead of focusing on the things we haven't accomplished, I will [try to] shift my/our focus on what He has done! I think the rest of the season will go a LOT smoother if I do this successfully!