When Christmas Doesn't Feel Like Christmas...

Merry Christmas friends. 

This December has been hard for me to get in to the Christmas Spirit. It just hasn't felt like Christmas this year. All month, I've felt like something is missing, but I haven't been able to put my finger on it. 

Was it that our kids didn't have Christmas performances?

It seemed to take us forever to finally go for our Christmas Light Night Drive?

We moved and we're away from family?

DJ's working more to prepare for a bowl game?

We just moved and I really didn't feel like decorating? 

I had no idea what presents to buy for our family?

I couldn't quite figure out why this month wasn't as magical as what I remember it in the past. 

Christmas has always been my favorite holiday, but this year, it has been hard. 

On Christmas Eve Eve, Adalyn woke up with a fever, which basically put the rest of my magical plans on hold. We spent most of Sunday morning laying around, cleaning house, and getting ready to have some family over for dinner. Our Christmas Eve Eve was fairly lazy. 

We woke up on Christmas Eve to our annual North Pole breakfast, but even that felt forced and not as enjoyable as I remember it being in the past. 

It's Christmas Eve afternoon, and most of us are still in pj's. We haven't budged off the sofa, we haven't baked our cookies, and I'm not sure we will......

As I'm typing this, Megan comes in from jumping on our new trampoline, and asks if we're going to bake cookies. I responded with, "I don't know", and she says "for Santa!"

And I feel like we need to, but I just don't want to. 

I suppose that eventually, I'll force myself to get up and bake the cookies, and honestly, while this month has been harder than most, I also appreciate the time we've had to just slow down. The two days we've had of lying around, watching random Christmas movies.... being together. 

We probably put too much pressure on ourselves anyway. In the days of Pinterest, Instagram, Facebook, and blogs- we want to show everyone that we're having the best time, or that our traditions are the best. We constantly try to out do everyone, and that's not what Christmas is about at all. 

I'm trying to remember that this is exactly where God wants us to be. Together, in our house in Texas, taking time to just be together, because we haven't really been together since early last summer.

God knows exactly what we need, and for some reason, I've been trying to fight it all and have my perfect Christmas rather than His. 

Friends, if this Christmas doesn't look like the Christmas that you imagined, I pray you'll take refuge in His arms and settle in to knowing that this is exactly where you need to be.