Today we mostly decorated for Christmas. It's also the first day of Advent. One year I wrote a post for every day of Advent, and I'm not entirely sure that's something I can commit to this year. I spend about 12 hours a week in a car commuting to work (by choice, and audiobooks are awesome!), so it's all about setting good boundaries with my time these days. Maybe I'll write again before Baby Jesus comes.
Anyway, we watched our first day of Advent church online from our bed. There was a little football game last night that you may have heard about, and it had us in bed after midnight. As we watched on TV this morning, we were reminded that the first candle of Advent is lit for hope.
Fast forward to this afternoon. I turned on a Hallmark movie to try to get myself hyped about decking the Hickman Family Halls. If you know me at all, you know I believe Hallmark movies are mostly good for heckling, not so much for entertainment. Nonetheless, I Hallmarked. I think this made Trey happy, but it mostly made me grinchier.
While setting up nativities and Santas, I was struck by how much has changed in 2024. I left the organization I worked for for 21 years. Keaton moved out, leaving us empty nesters. We (kind of) started going to a new church. All of these fundamental things in my life are the opposite of the last time I hauled the Christmas decorations out of storage.
So I had a moment. A good cry, if you will. And bless the heart of the wonderful Trey Hickman, he sat with me right through it.
Once I got over myself, I remembered the sermon from Church #2 last week. I should probably mention the scripture here, but honestly I don't remember it. I remember the message being over the great debate about marshmallows or pecans and brown sugar on the sweet potatoes at Thanksgiving.
People have opinions, man.
The point? In the end what really matters is the sweet potatoes. We can fuss and fight and argue (and be sad) about the toppings, but without the sweet potatoes we got nothin'.
I read something today that said "You can't live in gratitude and expectation. You have to pick one." I'm not sure I agree with that, but today I choose gratitude.
And so on this first day of Advent I am thankful for the sweet potatoes. For the good guy God gave me to marry. The fun job I have with encouraging people. All the great folks I got to work with and love on over the years in my other job. That my kids live basically down the street. That Trey and I are 47 and 57 and still have all four of our parents here this holiday season. And a million billion other things.
As Mike Greeson would say, "The Good Lord takes care of us, don't he?"
Apparently I'm co-opting the advent week of hope for gratitude. Let's call it the final week of Thanksgiving as well. I hope you have a week of gratitude ahead of you.
(See what I did there?)
Baby Jesus is coming to save the world! And he loves every darn one of us whether we like it or not. He is the sweet potatoes!
I love Christmas!
P.S. - The right answer is pecans and brown sugar.
P.S.S. - This is my cardinal tree. If you ever gave me a cardinal ornament, it comes out every Christmas and I remember you with joy in my heart.
The end.
