7th Day of Christmas with Glynnis Whitwer
Welcome to our 5th annual 12 Days of Christmas giveaways!.
Each day I’ll feature one of my Proverbs 31 sisters offering a recipe, idea or memory and giving away a prize for the day!
Today’s guest?
The organization/time management chick and writing whiz:
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Am I a Christmas Failure?
A few years ago, December found me feeling rather un-Christmasy. It had been a very hard year, filled with one challenge after another. And when it came time to start the Christmas season, my reaction was anything but merry.
My emotional and physical tanks were completely drained, and creativity seemed a distant dream.
Boxes of Christmas decorations sat in a closet. Christmas cards (bought on sale the prior year) waited on the counter. There were unmade cookies, unplanned parties, and unseen neighborhood light displays.
As I looked at my calendar and house, all I saw were things I hadn’t done. I felt like a Christmas failure. After all, some women manage to get everything done, and look good doing it. Why couldn’t I?
The discouragement of my “failures” stole the joy of the Christmas season.
But then God reminded me of what I had done:
- I had loved Jesus with all my heart.
- I had served God faithfully in a ministry (Proverbs 31) that impacted millions of women for Christ.
- I had cared for the needs of five children (two of whom needed hours of work each day in academics).
- I had run a home-based business that cared for the needs of my family.
- I had supported my husband so he could run his business.
- I had attended every holiday concert and sports event that month that my kids were in (and wrestling meets last for hours).
No magazine took pictures of my house that year. Martha Stewart didn’t want to know my secret for amazing home-made gifts.
And my friends and family forgave me for not sending out Christmas cards for the second year in a row.
That Christmas God showed me all the exterior stuff is nice, but it doesn’t matter that much to Him. What really matters is if my heart is fully submitted to His calling on my life.
His calling for me is to serve with a joyful heart. And apparently it’s not to decorate or craft.
So, if your house is still decorated for Thanksgiving, and if your presents will be wrapped in Target bags, and if your neighbors get a warm greeting rather than an assortment of homemade cookies and candy, it’s ok.
You aren’t a Christmas failure.
Just keep focused on what’s really important – and that’s Jesus. In a world filled with discouragement, He’s our only hope for peace and joy. And as much as I like homemade cookies and presents wrapped in satin bows, those don’t satisfy like my Savior.
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Glynnis Whitwer is on staff with Proverbs 31 Ministries and is one of the writers of Encouragement for Today. Her newest book, I Used to be So Organized, was released last fall. Glynnis, her husband Tod, and their five children live in Glendale, Arizona. Glynnis would love to invite you to visit her at www.GlynnisWhitwer.com where she blogs weekly and is in the midst of a series called “Sweet & Simple Christmas.”
Glynnis would love to give away two books. The first is her book “I Used to Be So Organized” and the second is “Seek” by Donna Jones.
To be entered in Glynnis’ giveaway, tell us one area in which you have ever felt like a CHristmas failure. I’ll go first: wrapping! My sister-in-law’s packages are gorgeous and creative. Mine are more like “brown paper packages tied up with strings”
Remember, you have until Sunday night December 16th to comment on all the posts. One grand prize winner will be chosen from among the gals who post on all 12 days!
(Gonna wait til tomorrow when there is more traffic to announce the grand prize)
I feel like a Christmas failure with decorating the inside of our house. Every year I promise to make the inside of our house feel Christmasy and every year I fail!
Wrapping – always wait to the last minute – always mean to start earlier and never quite make it!
I always fail to get it “all” done early….there are always so many last minute errands and then my children change their “lists” and then I’m returning gifts before Christmas!
I feel like a failure sometimes in the gift department. I receive so many nice gifts, and with being on a tight budget, feel like my gifts that I give to family are so small and don’t measure up with what they give me!
I keep reminding myself that that isn’t the meaning of Christmas, anyway.
I am guilty of wanting the perfect Christmas. i over-plan and end up rushing through everything and not taking time to enjoy the celebration or my Savior.
decorating in general!
Decorating the house. I can do the tree, but it is everything else. Including outside lights. I have no decorating touch at all. : )
Two areas: wrapping & baking. I always have aspirations of beautiful gifts w/ perfect bows and trying new recipes for cookies or cakes and such….there is just never enough time to squeeze it all in.
sending Christmas cards.
Never allowing enough time to shop. Then, I feel rushed and feel like I fail on finding unique and perfect gifts for the recipients. :-(
cooking the perfect meal
Losing focus on the real meaning of Christmas
I sometimes feel like I am a Christmas failure at keeping the focus off of the commercial, worldly side of Christmas. I don’t do a lot of wonderful decorating, sometimes I don’t get around to baking and I always struggle with having the house ready to recieve friends and family but the thing that bothers me most is getting caught up in the world’s celebration of Christmas as a retail holiday. This year I am making a concerted effort to make Christmas a celebration of Christ rather than a time to spend lots of money. I think I can, I think I can, I think I can, I know I can.
Christmas cards was one thing that I let go…the people who really love us see us all the time anyway…they know what we look like!!!
i always wish i did a better job of focusing on the real reason for the season and helped my kids to do the same!
I feel like a failure if we don’t get to every party and celebration we are invited to. I have to remind myself that sometimes we need to pick only the ones that are most important.
Sometimes I wonder if, when it’s all over, I’ve managed to help my family celebrate the true meaning of Christmas. This year I’m really struggling with my son. We have a Jesus stocking that is meant for each of us to put money into so that we can give it to a chosen organization that helps those in need. As soon as I told them about it, my daughter ran to her room, took a handful of coins from her piggy bank and dumped them in the stocking. My son, however, informed me in no uncertain terms that he wanted to save all his money for a new toy. I feel like I have failed to teach him about giving and about Jesus’ command that we care for the poor. I am praying that God will help him see the needs of others.
I usually get it all done with time to spare but I lose the Christmas joy in the process. I become a slave to my to-do list . So I just feel like I fail at the real reason for the season. I don’t have peace.
I have a hard time getting into the Christmas spirit every year. I enjoy Christmas, but I guess I want things my way. House just so, so many presents, baking and everything else that goes along.
This year as been a little different. I did some major cleaning so that we could put up the tree, before Christmas eve. My daughter and I started working on a puzzle to give to a friend. It has seemed so less stressful so far.
Definitely in the baking and decorating department. Never get all the baking done & put up the same decorations, year after year, never adding anything new of different.
Baking. I have so many great recipes that I plan on using every year and it never happens. I am lucky if I get 2 or 3 batches of cookies done.
Parties with extended family always feel like a Christmas failure to me. I imagine Norman Rockwell moments or intimate conversations that will grow us all closer to God. Instead, I leave feeling like my time was wasted and wonder when I ever thought family meant unconditional acceptance and love. It’s far from my control but sometimes I wish I could create a positive Christmas memory with my siblings or cousins or anyone.
I feel like a Christmas failure, when on the way out the door I have to stop and wrap the presents needed to take with me, as I look around my house which is undecorated! When the thought of the clean-up stops me cold in my tracks enough that I don’t to decorate. That is when I feel like a Christmas failure.
I try to make sure I do all the christmas activities that everyone else is doing iwth their kids. It just gets overwhelming. I need to only pick a couple that the kids really emjoy and start our own family traditions.
I just found out that I am TERRIBLE at gingerbread houses!! My son and I tried to do one at a kids workshop at the grocery store, and it didn’t make it out the door of the store before the roof fell off!! He was so disappointed….
I am also pretty bad at gift wrapping–we use a lot of gift bags!! :)
Carissa in eastern Iowa