Why this was perhaps my best Christmas season ever I do not know. (Many reasons could possibly be gleaned from other posts.) In hopes that I might remember in future years, or one of these may be helpful for you, here follows my attempt at analyzing the season.
I invited a friend over to help decorate, thus sharing the load ~ and the joy!
My tree was decorated on December 1st, allowing for many happy evenings of gazing at the softly lit living room.
Thanks to finding red taper candles at the hundred yen store and my need to use up my holiday goods, many peaceful evenings have been spent in the flickering candlelight.
A sinus infection-induced asthma spell gave me several days of forced rest mid-month. Have you ever taken time to be still before Christmas, and accepted it? Neither had I.
The new Advent devotional, Come Thou Long Expected Jesus, provided good food for my soul.
Once again God did more than I imagined with church member, Mrs. Y's, idea of my teaching a 2-week Christmas Bible study, mainly attended by nonbelievers.
I purposed to doubly enjoy Christmas in my own home, knowing that I will be an ocean and continent away next year.
A Christmas playlist is much more enjoyable than listening to the same CD over and over, until realizing that I need to put a different one on, as I have in other years.
I served store-bought desserts, guilt-free!
December was a car-free month for me, and relying on public transportation slows down the pace of life.
I did all my Christmas gift shopping either online or at the grocery store.
I did my Christmas preparation shopping (candles, cookies, wrapping paper and the like) at Costco and Ikea in early November, and have not been back to Costco since.
After the push of events at church, culminating at 11 PM the 24th, followed by the traditional holiday celebrations with expat teammates, I stayed put a few days before riding the trains to my cousins' for our family Christmas (this year Christmas dinner & our gift exchange was on the 30th).
I didn't start my Christmas cards until January 1st. I gave myself permission to realize that if they're not in the mail by December 1st, they will remain untouched until January 1st.
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