How many days?!

If you are like me and you sense the ticking away of the minutes between this time and Christmas, I count 13 days (again, if like me, you will end up doing it all at the last minute on Christmas Eve).

Yesterday I had a good lunch...got out of the building and went to a lunch sponsored by this ministry that I'm working with and got a reminder of why we celebrate Christmas. It was good. And that feeling lasted until I left work yesterday...because I left to the last minute preparations for a party that I'm going to tonight. And cooking was required. We all know how much I love that.

SO I managed to stop and get an ornament, clean up my kitchen, cook my dinner, cook my dessert for tonight, and wrap my ornament...all the while on the very verge of muttering under my breath. And here's the thing...I enjoy shopping and wrapping. I'm going to enjoy this party (after I get there). I like to shop and wrap and party. (I don't like to cook or clean but recognize the necessary evils of both.) Really, it's the deadlines...and I make these grand plans to have beautiful gifts that will impress everyone with my mad skills (either knitting, or sewing, or just buying.) And I look at my calendar and determine that there's no way to get my tree up until December 27 (that won't work for what should be obvious reasons).

And then I go to a lunch to remember why we do this...or someone sends me a quiz that makes me think about why I celebrate...or I write a post on the other blog that makes me think about how lucky I am to have such good friends to celebrate with (and if you dressed as a pirate for Halloween, you might want to check it out because both of my readers on the other blog are totally going to see your picture. I know how you love that.) And I can't give any of it up. In fact, I am making my plans even more extravagant even as we speak/write. So I think I have 3 options.

A. Start sooner (which is not going to happen because I've become one of those people...last minute (wo)men)
B. Only attend Christmas parties in June.
C. Take a deep breath and get on with it, doing my best to remember why we celebrate, even when I'm stuck in traffic, line, or my bad attitude! I really do love Christmas. I just have to remember that!

Here's why I have a reason to celebrate:

John 3:16-17 (New International Version)
16"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. 17For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.