Wishing you Joy and Peace

Merry Christmas, my friend!

 

Part of the fun of Christmas is driving around at night and seeing all the light displays in peoples’ yards. Are you a massive light putter-upper? Or do you prefer the more subtle approach to the tradition?

 

And what about Christmas concerts or programs? What’s your favorite? The Nutcracker? A traditional church event? A school performance? For me, it’s the traditional kids’ Christmas Pageant, complete with Mary, Joseph, and all those angels and shepherds.

 

Let me tell you, I know my way around kids’ Christmas programs. I’ve helped with children’s choirs at several churches over the years and helped plan about a bazillion Christmas programs. I was also a preschool music teacher and had to create a Christmas program for the kids to put on for their families. The combination of kids and Christmas is a recipe for magic. Then you throw in being at their school or church at night when it’s dark out, and it’s a formula to cause enough excitement for someone to wet their pants, and it’s hopefully not me.

 

At the preschool where I worked, we put on two Christmas programs right before Christmas to accommodate all the classes. Each night, we’d have around 100 preschoolers on “stage,” ready to sing their well-rehearsed songs for the rapt and rowdy audience.

 

Now, whenever you have that many kids together, you know three things are going to happen:

 

1.) Someone’s going to cry uncontrollably. 2.) Someone is going to throw up (or make noises indicating it could happen any moment), and 3.) Someone will have to go to the bathroom to the point of physically holding it in, no matter who is looking. Let’s make that four things—4.) One of the little girls in the front row is for sure going to show her underwear to everyone involved.

 

When I was going to see my kids in these programs, I only had eyes for my own kid. Another child in a different section could be singing like Andrea Bocelli, and I wouldn’t notice. There could be all sorts of carryings-on, and I’d miss it all because I was looking at my own little angel/shepherd/underwear-bearer.

 

But when I was the teacher and had to lead this bunch of wild creatures, I wanted them to sing every word perfectly. I wanted them to do only the Ms. Patti-sanctioned actions that I was doing. Fat chance that was going to happen!

 

The funny thing is those kids that get extra wiggly or make unexpected faces singing Go Tell it on the Mountain or do handstands in the middle of Silent Night make us laugh. That’s the great thing about kids. They can hardly contain themselves sometimes! It makes me wonder if we grown-ups might be “containing ourselves” more than we ought. I’m not advocating exposing our underwear in public, mind you, but maybe “letting the joy out” rather than holding it in would be good for us.

 

And is there anything better than seeing a miniature Mary & Joseph walking down the center aisle of a church, the Baby Jesus, in the form of a Cabbage Patch Kid or Baby Alive, wrapped in swaddling clothes in little Mary’s arms? Man, how I would have liked to be Mary just once. But you had to be très magnifique to land that role. I was simply très. I was an angel once or twice, and I guess I should be satisfied with that. At least I got to wear a pretty costume, unlike those poor shepherds wearing their bathrobes to church.

 

These two programs represent to me two quite different approaches to celebrating Christmas. You can do it really big, with colorful lights and jingle bells, 100 kids on one stage, and all the energy that erupts in that scenario. Or, there can be a quieter approach, with a couple of nervous new-parents-to-be and a Baby in a manger. There’s one thing to remember, though . . .

 

 . . . if it weren’t for that Baby in a manger, there wouldn’t be any of the rest.

 

Sure, there’d be other stuff to celebrate throughout the years. Still, I think God coming down from heaven and living with us, only to die for us, is worth celebrating. I may not lift my dress up over my head in public or wet my pants (please, God), but you can bet I’m going to be celebrating this Sunday morning.

 

We have a neighbor whose light display is fantastic! They’ve become one of those houses you must drive by each year. I don’t know where to start to list all the characters they have in their yard, lights in their trees, music playing, and “snow” blowing.

 

Joy.

 

It’s so much fun to look at! And right next door to them is a simple, plain white nativity scene with a single strand of white lights.

 

Peace.

 

I hope that you will find occasion this week leading up to Christmas to find both joy and peace. It is what I wish for you.

 

I’m taking next week “off” as our son, Teddy will be in town. I’ll write to you again on January 3. A new year is coming!

 

Written with love – – Patti XOXO

“May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in Him,

so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.”

Romans 15:13