Doing less gives you time to be more

As I have been scouring my ever growing list of blogs, I have noticed that so many people have been talking about keeping it simple this year. Of course, I kept it simple due to the sheer fact that I didn't have a lot of time to plan the Christmas holiday or to even do a lot of shopping for that matter. But now I'm seeing that as a blessing.

September, October, and November were crazy months for us. A new house, a new dog, a wedding and a honeymoon; all took up my time and seriously strapped us for cash. So I decided that presents would be smaller for this year and that I wasn't going to go all out in my decorating. I decided to keep it simple.

A few days ago, I got an email from my mother-in-law letting me know that it was going to be a simple Christmas at their house this year, something that my mom had also mentioned on the phone a few times. And I was relieved.

This year, it is my hope that the Christmas weekend in our household will be less, allowing us to be more. What does that mean you ask? Well it's quite simple actually. I pray that doing less of the glitz and glamour will help us to recognize the reason for the season and to celebrate the birth of our Lord, Jesus Christ. After all He is the star of the show this weekend.

So in that spirit, my house currently features a tree in my living room, a wreath on the front door, and a few small Christmas lights on the outside railings. And that's it. I'm not baking cookies and I'm not making pretty packages.

As Griff and I celebrate our first Christmas as husband and wife, and actually our first Christmas together, I pray that this might become a tradition for us, putting more effort into celebrating the joy and love of the season rather than putting the emphasis in other places. Of course as our family grows, my decorating and my baking and my present wrapping might grow but for now, I'm very content with doing less to allow us to be more this Christmas season.