Enjoying Christmas

I'm getting ready for two Christmas parties, this week.  Trying to stay healthy, only eat nutritious food--not junk, and also enjoy the Advent season, can be a challenge.  So I was looking at my club's suggestions, on its web site.  There was one video there that I took notes from.  I'd put it on this blog, but I don't have the expertise to do that.  It's the one in the middle, entitled, "Creating Your Holiday Experience."

While there were many good tips, the one I want to highlight is focusing on "what's important for you in this particular season."  Even if you say THE FOOD, you can still enjoy and not feel guilty.

Now make a list of what you love most about Christmas:
presents, decorations, atmosphere, people, religious ceremonies, parties, music, parties, food, etc.

Next, think what it is that you love about the items in your list.

I, personally, picked atmosphere.  Included in that are the affect that atmosphere has on people.  Some of that atmosphere is religious, and most of the "people" are my direct family members.  So I'm going to concentrate on the exterior decorations, music, and not too much food.  I'm plan to make my home a welcoming, Christmas event.

Even if I had picked FOOD, I would stress portion control.  Abstinence makes one feel deprived.  So unless you're fasting for religious reasons, don't.  You'll end up bingeing. Eat a LITTLE of everything.

One good piece of advice I picked up from the video was when you're visiting another's party (you're not in control of the menu).  Sometimes you can't be polite and refuse the food the host is pushing on you.  In that case, you say you're full and ask to take it home.  Take a bite, and say, "mmmm...delicious, may I have the recipe?"

You definitely don't want to hurt anybody during the Christmas season; or any season!

Enjoy what's important: how you decorate your home, the church's decorations, the Town Common's decorations, neighbors' homes.  Wish everyone well.  Pray for everyone you meet.  Sing carols.  Bless everyone with your love, not necessarily food.  Have a blessed Advent.

Appendicitis and Faith

Tonight I attended a Christmas party. (I was obeying the rules to having a stress free holiday and avoided the food table.) I was engrossed in conversation with a friend that I haven't seen since the summer. She was telling me that she almost died. She had a ruptured appendix. She's in her 60's. Do you know the same thing happened to me, but I was twelve? It's not only the fact that we were misdiagnosed but that we'd been having symptoms for about a year and had just ignored them.

It occurred to me that our souls are like a bad appendix. If we don't go to the doctor when we are sick, how can we be healed? If we don't receive the sacraments, how can our souls be healed? If we ignore symptoms, we will be ill. We may even die. If we ignore the sacraments, our faith fades. Our faith may even die.

...O that today you would listen to his voice. Do not harden your hearts, as at Meribah, as on the day at Massah in the wilderness, when your ancestors tested me and put me to the proof... Psalm 94 (95): 89.