CHRISTMAS IS COMING!

Think back eleven months ago with me. Thanksgiving has passed, and Christmas shopping is in high gear. Do you remember how stressed out you were at your calendar crammed with activities - all of them "good" activities? Do you remember saying, "Next year I am NOT going let myself get over committed?"

Well now is the time to work on your calendar before you experience "Christmas calendar creep." Take your calendar down and write, "Be Careful!" in red ink across each week between now and Christmas. Make sure that you leave time for being with family every seven days. Overly obligated holiday calendars is a major cause of arriving at the holiday’s end out of breath and out of spirit. Holiday events add seasoning to this time of year. These events, however, can become like too much salt - ruining the very thing it intends to flavor.

Families with older children will have the greatest challenge. Teenagers have church and school activities that swell the calendar even if parents are very careful. Challenge or not, it can be done. What is often lacking is either planning or will power.

Your church’s Christmas music and pageants are wonderful ways to teach your children that Christmas is more than giving and receiving material gifts. There will be specials on TV that will enhance your holiday season. A new Tom Hanks movie, The Polar Express, is due to be released and is a "must see" for the Atkinsons — "I still hear the bells!" And there are the classic movies that help to put you in the Christmas spirit — It’s a Wonderful Life, Miracle on 34^th Street, A Christmas Carol, starring George C. Scott, etc.

These are all good, but BE CAREFUL! Too much of a good thing will turn your holidays into a stressed filled nightmare.

And then, if you want to be assured of arriving at Christmas at peace and with a spirit of good will, determine to do something for someone who cannot return the favor. Perhaps this will be for an older person or a disadvantaged family. The act of doing something for others will do wonders to restore sanity to what is often a hectic time. Share of yourself, not just of your means. Focusing on someone in need is one way of refusing to give in to your own problems.

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!