Please pardon me while I “do Christmas.”

Like many people this time of year, I sometimes feel overwhelmed – – so much to do, so little time. I once heard someone say that at this season we are busy trying to make up for the arrears of a whole year.  There is truth in this.

And yet, despite all the tasks and disruptions of regular schedules, I WILL have it.  I am a “Christmas person” and there’s simply no getting around it.  I love the cheerful decorations, the fun of parties, the plotting of surprises, the receiving of cards from cherished friends.  Most especially I love the exquisite old Christmas carols that touch my heart anew each year and the memory-laden, even sometimes bittersweet gathering together of family for a love feast.

Paradoxically, around this same time each year, I begin to question the rationality of it all and look forward to the stark, barren quietness of January when I will rest, repair, reorganize and return to my work with steady focus and undistracted resolve. But in the meantime, my touchstone is a framed quote by Madeline L’Engle, which hangs on my wall:

“This is the irrational season when love blooms bright and wild. Had Mary been filled with reason there’d have been no room for the child.”