Christmas’ed Out

Whew!!! For the last few weeks, I’ve been really busy at work planning and executing holiday events. I haven’t had much time to do much else than get ready for holiday lunches and Christmas parades. If I haven’t been working on it, I’ve been shopping for it. This has meant weekends that have flown by in the blink of an eye and long days. And, unfortunately, it’s also meant waiting until the last minute for Christmas shopping.

I’ll start this off by saying my body aches like I am 110 and my mind simply can’t focus. I’ve got so much on my mind and my heart, it’s hard to make a list. Therefore, I end up at Target looking at candles that just have the letter “E” on them that smell like pee. I kid you not, they were yellow. Maybe they were supposed to be a fancy brand but I couldn’t tell. I couldn’t get that for my worst enemy so that left me aimlessly wandering the store and contributed to my purchase of three bags of Christmas M&M’s for the candy I will probably not make. I thought about all the people who’ve been so kind to me this year and how I want to thank them all but then I looked at the prices of everything. Either I thank them all or just some of them. So I ended up convincing myself that I will make my famous cheese straws. When? Not entirely sure. Maybe between dark and dawn one day this week.

After the exercise I got in Target, I had to grab lunch at one of my favorite country cooking places in Newnan, Georgia. The fried chicken there is so, so good. It’s so good that as I was driving down the road afterwards, I found some fried chicken crumbs in my hair. I’m not quite sure how that got in there but there it sat front and center. Well, actually it was on the left side of my forehead but you get the point. I still had more shopping to do but the closer I got to Walmart, the less I felt like going. My lunch was sitting heavy in my belly and the collard greens were apparently in the process of planning a surprise attack. I felt more bloated than a roadkill raccoon in July. I could not battle Walmart while waddling with angry collards in my belly.

I decided that I would just head home and stop by at the liquor store. Most of my friends love alcohol so that’s what some are getting. I even bought myself a little Christmas present there. (No, it’s not any of that Alabama Chicken Cock. Just some Crown Royal Peach.) The liquor store I went to had buggies and I swear that is the best and worst thing a liquor store could do. I feel overwhelmed in these large super liquor stores and sometimes get carried away—-in the sense that perhaps I think I’m opening my own bar. I mean my goodness, everyone needs a good elderflower liqueur. Right? Never mind that. The kind cashier offered to tote the box out to my car and probably thought I was working on binging the entire series of Sex and the City while bemoaning men. Relax, it’s almost all gifts. Almost.

When I finally arrived home with my random Target treasures that aren’t quite what I had hoped to find and enough alcohol to have a wine and cheese open bar, I was exhausted. I was also defeated. I still have Christmas shopping left to do and I’m really questioning if people would mind if they don’t get their Christmas gifts until mid-January. That’s probably when I will feel like making that candy and by then I can get the Christmas M&M’s on for half price. But by then they’ll have Valentine colors out so it will be a Valentismas gift. There’s nothing quite like being Christmas’ed out. You know what that means? When you feel like you have become overwhelmed by the anticipation, the shopping, the parties, the music, the crowds, and everything hurried? (God love it, Mariah Carey. All I want for Christmas is you to stop singing. The song was a welcome sound in October when they started blasting it everywhere but on December 18, it’s like nails on a chalkboard.)

This feeling takes the joy, and the true meaning, out of Christmas for me. I get to this point where I just want it to be over. There’s not enough time or enough money to really do what I really want to do for people. That’s when I know I have to slow down and stop. Stop worrying about what I haven’t done for every single person on my list. Stop worrying about the garland that I can’t seem to make stay on my wall. Stop hurrying around and buying crap that doesn’t matter. The best gift in the world has already been given. None of us can top that one. The gift that God gave us in that sweet baby Jesus is the only gift any of us truly need. Sharing the love that Jesus was sent to this earth to deliver is the only gift we should really stress to give. If not for love, then what? Love, grace, and mercy.

It’s hard to give mercy when you’re Christmas’ed out and, like I realized, wearing my shirt backwards all day. The stress and hurry of running to the store for that purchase that I felt I had to make left me with little of the true meaning of Christmas in my heart. I was more Grinch than anything. For crying out loud, I was wearing a shirt that should have been obvious was on backwards. But my focus was not there. My focus had fizzled and my anxiety took over. Every year I say I’m going to start shopping in the summer. I’m going to start mixing and freezing cookie dough in October. My heart and mind are always looking ahead instead of being in the present, which ironically IS our present.

The commercialized version of Christmas will leave you feeling Christmas’ed out. It will leave you feeling like you’re in a competition to get the best gift. It will leave you frustrated at the screaming child in line. It will leave you feeling empty at the end of Christmas Day. Let us all seek the real version of Christmas which was meant to be lived and celebrated all year long. The real version instills a sense of peace within your heart that doesn’t condition you to receive. Gifts are a great way to mirror the gift God gave to us but the best way is to be an example of His love.