Step Into Christmas
Crafting playlists, making a TBR, and questioning if we should even celebrate Christmas?!
I don’t know if we should celebrate Christmas.
I have been reading Leviticus the past month or so. Not the most glamorous, or Christmasy, book of the Bible, but because I decided to start a new Bible reading plan in October, this is where I currently am. And in God’s sovereignty, it has been the perfect book for me to be reading right now.
The main theme I see in the Leviticus, through rituals, sacrifices, and cleansing rules, is that God’s people are to be set apart. They are called to look different than everyone else. Leviticus also outlines the feasts and celebrations that God’s people were to partake in each year - Sabbath, Passover, and Pentecost - to name a few.
So I have started asking these questions in so many areas of my life: Am I set apart? Do I look the same as everyone else? And the holidays are certainly not immune to my questioning. Do I look any different than the world when it comes to how I approach holidays?
I don’t have many answers right now, just questions. One of my goals for 2023 was to ask more questions. I wrote it with the intention of honing the skill of asking others questions to know and love them better. Yet it has turned into mostly me asking God questions, asking myself questions, and just having questions in general.
But I bring these questions to you all the same because perhaps, like me, they are questions you have never really asked before.
So, as I share my vision board and reading list and music, you will probably see a mixture of the gospel story and slowness with holiday baking and rom-com reading.
In counseling, I have been practicing the idea of “yes and.” Yes, this is incredibly hard, AND I can do it. Yes, I am thankful for that experience, AND it still hurt me. Yes, I want to slow down enough to see Jesus in this season and every season, AND I choose to enjoy some of the beautiful, yet maybe more frivolous things that the life He gives offers. Both can be true.
Here’s to an intentional Christmas season.
Wallpaper/Vision Board
I love making these vision boards to set as my wallpaper for the season. For Christmastime, I went for browns and greens, and I love the way this turned out. I probably won’t be chopping any wood in the snow or have quite as beautifully wrapped presents as the ones in the photo, but these pictures inspire me each time I open my laptop.
Music
I have two playlists I usually rotate between during the month of December. My Christmastime playlist mostly consist of newer holiday music. You won’t really find many classics on it because I find between stores, movies, and just living life, I still get to hear those songs a lot.
My second playlist is my advent playlist. The feeling of dimming the lamps, cooking dinner, and turning on these peaceful Christmas hymns is one of my favorite things about this time of year.
Bucket List
I feel like I have really been struggling lately with being present, and the last thing I wanted to do was add a ton more things to my to-do list. While you and I both know a bucket list is not the same thing as a to-do list, my brain just assumes I have to do all these things, on top of everything else going on this month. So I decided to keep it simple and mostly include things I knew I would already be doing but wanted to be intentional about doing anyways.
Reading List
To me, reading is a year-round activity. I know some people love reading especially in the summer when you can do it at the beach or the pool, and some people love it more in the winter when it is cozy and snowy. I am all of the above. But I am especially looking forward to getting into some of these Christmas themed books!
Honest Advent is a devotional I have used for the past two years now, and it is a favorite! It has a beautiful illustration to go with each chapter and really dives into the mystery of Jesus coming to Earth. I love it for a little bit of a deeper, different take on the Christmas story.
The Bridge is one of my all-time favorite Christmas books, and it is also a two-part Hallmark movie! If you have not seen it, I highly recommend checking it out. I believe you can watch it on Amazon Prime.
Last but not least, Wintering has been on my list to read for a while now, but I am hoping to finally get around to it after Christmas. This book is about how to navigate and appreciate the darker seasons of life, finding strength and growth in the process of slowing down and taking time for self-reflection.
I’ll leave you with a quote to ponder.
This comes from the chapter I read in Honest Advent this morning, as the author wrote about the vulnerability of God coming to the Earth through childbirth.
“…To attempt to create anything in this world is to take a risk. All creating is an expression of vulnerability.”
Thank you so much for reading! I hope you are having a wonderful start to your December and are hopeful for the season ahead.
Take care,
Caroline