Traditions

 "Whenever Christmas begins to burden, it’s a sign that I’ve taken on something of the world and not of Christ."

As I was scrolling social media last night, I was *slightly* jealous of some of the pictures and posts.

Families that manage to get all of their people in matching pjs and thus look like an ad for Old Navy on the ideal Christmas.

Families with all their people doing all the Christmas magic fun. Looking at lights. Cutting down trees.

The tree standing in my living room is sort of a glaring reminder that Christmas looks different here.

One of my favorite Christmas traditions has always been going to cut down a live Christmas tree.

I love the look of a Christmas tree farm. The smell. The experience.

Until I didn't.

Each year as we tried to drag all 5 of us out to get the tree - because for some reason it felt like we all should all be present - the experience became less and less fun.

We did not look like an Old Navy Christmas ad.

We looked like the Saturday Night Live skit version.

One of my children is not a fan of being outdoors. One of my children is very allergic to the trees - breaks out in hives if they touch it. SD has had rotator cuff surgery and cutting down the tree just isn't in his wheelhouse anymore. Did I mention the truck that brings the tree home isn't running? Again.

Between all that, and the new puppy, last year I set that tradition down.

I put up this tiny skinny tree that I had bought for the kid's playroom years ago.

Peanut decorated solo - the only one interested in participating.

You know what?

We still managed to celebrate the birth of the baby Jesus without that tradition.

And so as we move through the holidays this year, I've been laying down traditions I love that no longer work for our family.

We traded a traditional Thanksgiving dinner on a Thursday for board games, appetizers and movies on a Wednesday night.

We traded the trek to the Christmas tree farm for a yearlong pass to the state parks that can be shared amongst all 5 of us for various purposes.

I'm trading traditions for being present in what works now.

I'm trading EXPECTATIONS for expectancy.

Mama Warriors, if your traditions feel like burdens, you have permission to lay them down.

Maybe not for forever. Maybe for this season.

To be present in what works NOW.

To put down expectations that don't work in favor of waiting expectantly for Christmas morning.

To remember that the first Christmas must have been a mess of imperfect people doing the best they could with the information they had in the season they were in.

Let's trade traditions for what works best now.

Let's be present.