The picture above is a bonad, which sounds like a naughty word but means a Swedish wall hanging. This one depicts the Nativity. I have posted it as a reminder for all of us to start thinking about Christmas.
Christmas is the biggest annual phenomenon in our lives, dominating at least 10% of our calendar and demanding so much of us: planning, buying, baking, wrapping, cooking, singing, inviting, giving, worshipping, visiting, travelling, writing, mailing, waiting, recovering, and paying. It can be magic and fulfilling; it can be stressful or sad.
A good way to reduce the anxiety, rush, and expense of the “holiday season” is to have all the myriad details of Christmas settled in advance. Buy your presents early according to a budget. Make sure the list of people to whom you will send greetings is up to date. Agree about where you will go for Christmas or whom you will be inviting. Get the ingredients for your special foods before they run out in December. Consider how you will be intentionally hospitable and charitable this year. Whom might be forgotten that you could bring some happiness to? Have you got enough wrapping? (Remember that cheap wrapping paper is the Devil’s way of making you hate Christmas.)
Christmas is a feast, a festival, a celebration. Prepare for it by getting a jump on Advent and may all your Christmases be bright.