I have a confession to make. I love Christmas. I love the lights on the Christmas tree. I love the stockings hung from the chimney (or wherever you can hang ‘em) with care. I love buying gifts for those I love. I’ve made an effort to blend the traditions of my and my husband’s families into something unique and special for our family.

This year feels different though. I have been struggling to get into the “Christmas spirit.” I haven’t felt much like celebrating and didn’t feel the same drive to decorate I have in years past. There is so much pain and hopelessness in the world right now that it makes it hard to celebrate.

But then I wonder, isn’t this season supposed to be about joy and wonder and most of all…hope? So, I cannot let the hopelessness overcome me. All of the things I love about Christmas – family, giving, kindness, hope, joy – are needed more right now. I can buy hopelessness, fear and selfishness wholesale. Perhaps it’s time to just start giving away the joy and kindness. Maybe that’s the kindling I need to get this Christmas fire really roaring.

But where do I start? I can’t just decide to feel the Christmas spirit and wake up in red and green and Christmas bells. So, I started small, moving through the traditions of Christmas’ past. I pulled out the Advent calendars a friend had given my children and let them start counting down (up?) to Christmas with a small piece of chocolate every night. I put up the Christmas tree and felt a palpable sense of lifted weight simply by plugging in the lights. I felt a real sense of hope as I helped my child make her gift to help someone in need. And I knew I was onto something when I was riding in the car with my kids, singing along to “Frosty the Snowman.”

In this season of fear and sadness, I invite us all to move through this season making a concentrated effort to make our days just a little brighter. Christmas cards feeling like a chore? Much like doing the dishes, if you just start I promise you’ll be glad you did it. Don’t know what to get certain people on your list and it’s giving you anxiety? Make a donation in their name to a charity you support. I guarantee that this will solve your gift giving problem and will make a difference for all involved. This is a season where we await he who came to bring us joy. And if a Christmas tree, a little piece of chocolate or silly song will help you remember that, nothing is too small to connect us to that feeling.

Shared by a Member of the Marble Community