Alternative to Traditions

Christmas can be celebrated anywhere in any way. It isn't a requirement to participate in all the demanding shopping and gift-giving. It's about the birth of Jesus. So, we are here to say, it is absolutely okay to take a break and skip all the commercial "hoop-la" this year if one chooses. We understand the first year without a spouse takes some getting used to and a quiet Christmas is good for our souls.  

Sure many of our friends and relatives who don't fathom what we are going through will gasp at the change in our plans for this one year. They might think something is truly wrong with us. Eventually, they will understand we are just adjusting, not dropping out of the human race! Christmas will simply be on a smaller scale than usual.

What does a quiet Christmas look like?

We are definitely not speaking of hibernating in a closet and never coming out until mid-January! Celebrating the best quiet Christmas ever looks like:

• attending dinner with one favorite person instead of joining a massive holiday party with all the background noise
• shopping online instead of fighting the crowds at the mall
• putting up a tabletop tree instead of spending energy decorating & wrestling with a ceiling-high tree
• using candles and a Nativity set instead of decorating the entire house
• taking a friend to candlelight church service instead of baking 20 pies at the last minute out of guilt
• reading the Christmas story with a niece/nephew while their parents go out
• completely getting away on a little side trip by ourselves

Something Different

Changing the way we do things now may save our sanity and is the way to be strengthened. We can be healed from all the pain, sorrow and worry just by taking care of ourselves; by quietly listening to the God Who loves us beyond a doubt. There is no way to hear Him speak to us unless we remain quiet. The noise and chaos in the world drowns out His voice. So we can do Christmas quietly this first year and see a difference in our hearts and minds!

“For a child is born to us, a son is given to us. . .And he will be called: Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace” Isaiah 9:6 NLT.