Talk about hioliday stress!

It seems we have a blow up christmas ornament that could use some therapy. Our happy little penguin keeps trying to do himself in. Three times this weekend I caught him disconnected from his outlet and laying in the neighbor's yard. And when I came home from church last night, he was laid out like he'd tried to end it all. Poor little guy-I'm guessing the stress of being part of the Shon's ode to Clark Griswald's christmas display is just to much for him to handle.

Poor guy...I wonder if our insurance covers post holiday stress in yard art creatures...

live like I am living!

I read an article in People this weekend-I'm a People.com addict, I admit-that got me thinking. This article was about Elizabeth Edwards, her life, her stuggle with breast cancer, and her funeral. Now, I'm not a huge Elizabeth Edwards fan, so her death didn't really hit me like it hit some others, but this article really struck a chord with me.

Here was a woman, who had most of her life spread all over the papers, who didn't have a ton of privacy, and who suffered some of the most devestating things a woman can go through-the death of a child, a long and painful fight with cancer, a marriage that fell apart. But through it all, she seemed to "get it".

Too often I think we just try to get by, try to live though the season in our life and get to the next one. We wish for things to hurry so we can get on with the next chapter. Example, we wish Christmas would hurry up and be over so we don't feel stress, or we live for the weekend, all the while missing all the wonderful things that go on during the Christmas season, or lose sight of the everyday miracles that happen during the week. We want our kids to go to school so we can have some freedom, and forget to hang on to the precious memories of their childhood.

Elizabeth Edwards didn't live like that. She bought a house for her and her children, expecting to move into it and start a new life, even though she knew she had a terminal illness. She spent her last days with her loved ones, but didn't talk about her funeral. She lived like she was living, not like she was dying. How awesome is that? Shouldn't we all live like we are living? Why should we dwell on the stressful things, and the difficults things? Why can't we embrace them and find the good in them? I think there is a great lesson is NOT planning your funeral even if you know you have a terminal illness! I for one don't want to spend the last days I have with the ones I love the most, worried about what is going to be done once I'm gone-frankly, I couldn't care less at that point!

So, for today, and hopefully the rest of my days, I will continue to live like I am living. I will enjoy every season that I am in for what it's worth, and try not to sweat the small stuff. I think we would all be a little bit happier if we just followed this simple rule...

Happy Holidays, Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, and whatever else you celebrate!

Wanna know what REALLY irritates me, what makes my blood boil, what makes me wanna scream this time of year? Wait for it...

CHRISTIANS!!!

Yep-my people! Oh my goodness, we are so dang good at being judgemental and pious, and rude...and we seem to step it up about 217 notches this time of year.

Of course I'm not talking about every Christian, or even most Christians, but the select few that give the whole lot of us a bad name. There is this preacher in Dallas, that chooses to spend his time and energy making a "grinch" list of businesses that don't tell him Merry Christmas, but instead say "happy holidays". Are you kidding me? Are there really no other problems in the world that need solving, so this is his big concern?

I love how Christians get all offended if someone says happy holidays-I mean seriously! Guess what, We are not the only religion that has a holiday in December-shocking I know, but Chrisitan's don't own December! I don't hear Jewish people screaming out in outrage because someone wishes them happy holidays instead of a happy Hanukkah. You better believe I tell people "Merry Christmas" but I sure don't hold it against them if they tell me Happy Holidays. Why can't people just be pleasant and accept other people have different beliefs? We are so quick to demand that we are free to express our beliefs, but we sure don't wanna hear about anyone elses. What a bunch of hypocrites!

And then there's the whole belief that Christians shouldn't promote Santa in their homes! I mean, why would we teach our children to be honest, then lie to them about Santa??? Uh, maybe because children should have imaginations, and childhood should have a little bit of magic in it, and not everything has to be literal and serious all the time! I must be a bad bad Christian, because I schlep my kiddos to the mall every year to sit on some jolly fat guy's lap and ask for toys...

Nothing makes me turn into a "grinch" faster than intolerance-well except maybe Garth Brooks singing "Let it snow", but that's an entire different blog...

In my house, we make sure we teach our kids what Christmas means to our family. We know it's about Jesus' birth, and we celebrate it as such. But I'm not about to take the magic and some of the secular things out of it. Can we say balance! Why can't we celebrate the miracle of Jesus, and still have some things that are less serious? Do we really think that God is shaking his head in shame if we wish someone a happy holiday? Lord knows, we can't just be nice and tolerant of each other-we have to beat our beliefs down everyohe's throat.

I know it's our job as Christians to bring people to Christ, but I sure don't think the best way to do it is by showing everyone around us that we are a bunch of crotchity, pious, arrogant snobs that think you are an idiot for not believing what we believe. Maybe we should instead be a joyous, delightful person to be around. A person that smiles when someone wishes us a happy holiday, and answers with a festive "Merry Christmas"! These are the people I'd rather be around this season!