is the goal a magical christmas?

i have less expectations than any christmas season in recent history.
i have more joy than any christmas season in recent history.

i have a hunch those 2 things have something to do with each other.

yes, christmas is about Jesus.
{i overheard levi telling this to a neighbor on the walk home from school. it was so stinking precious. "did you know Christmas is all about Jesus and not the presents?"}

but. BUT. the kids and i are learning these words. and i was reading to them this morning...

"And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength. The second is this: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. There is no other commandment greater than these." Mark 12:30-31

and it struck my heart that LOVING GOD might not look like a magical christmas.

traditions are sweet. and i love sitting and looking at my christmas tree all it up with the best of them. but, above all, He has called me to love Him with all i have. and most days that's going to look like doing what i do in february, or june, or november. sometimes it kinda feels like life is supposed to pause for the month of december so that we can address christmas cards and shop and make cookies or even so we can sit for hours and look at that beautiful tree. but does ANY of that look like loving God? really? truly?

i DO think it's so important for us to remember what God did by sending Jesus to us as a man. but, if we're honest, do any of the "christmas traditions" truly help us remember that? or don't we remember that as we walk each day of our year with our eyes fixed on Him...as we look our kids in their eyes when they talk to us...or as we choose to stop to ask how that person really is as we pass on the street...or as we choose to be grateful for ALL things, even the hard stuff?

Jesus came so that we could live lives of FREEDOM.
not lives tied to expectations and lists and a christmas season packaged in a box.

i admit to so many years of choosing the traditions over love. of forcing the moment over seeing the hearts that were there.

i still get it wrong some days.

but my eyes are fixed on Him and He always has eyes of grace and love looking back at me.

{and some days we just need to LAUGH! i don't love this version. but i love my kids more. i taped it to their bathroom mirror late one night...}

 we go to the mall maybe twice a year. we survived it at 7 pm on a wednesday in december. {we were in and out in 15 minutes!}

 and a mud snowman family. that's what you do when it's 70 degrees in december! we're ALL fans!