I love the holiday season. On a religious level, I LOVE the liturgical seasons of Advent and Christmas. They are my favorites, I think (with the Octave of Easter). Advent always inspires me with such hope, such a beautiful and deep longing for Jesus.

On a secular level, I love putting out my grandmother’s Nativity Scene and remembering her as I do it. I love becoming nostalgic about my childhood listening to the Carpenters’ “Christmas Portrait” (the best Christmas album ever).

I love baking. I love family time and focusing on the stuff that really matters. I just love Christmas.

It can be a hard time for a lot of people, and it has been for me some years. But now I’ve grown to love December. It’s busy and kind of hectic, and I don’t like trying to figure out what to get as gifts for my loved ones, but I DO love finding something I think they’ll like. I’ve learned to let the reason for the season and the madness ground me, pull me back to my spiritual center.

That’s probably because on pilgrimage, Bethlehem affected me in ways I NEVER would have foreseen and were life-changing. I try to focus on that, on those lessons of humility, instead of what things happen to be lacking from my life or the inconveniences of being busier than normal.