Regaining the Christmas Feels
By Jessica Brodie
Have you ever felt yourself feeling a bit like a divided soul this time of year? For those of us who celebrate Thanksgiving, we try our best to take time to focus on gratitude and thankfulness and peace for all the Lord provides, not to mention decorating the house with fall decor and cozy shades of red and orange and yellow and gold.
But the moment Thanksgiving festivities are done, there’s a pressure to put it all away and immediately get ready for the next holiday: Christmas. Away go the fall colors, and out come the red and green, and the tinsel and the ivy and the mistletoe.
That rush often continues as we realize all the things we “need” to get done before Christmas morning, from shopping to Christmas cards to baking cookies and other favorite traditions. Many people claim Christmas is their favorite holiday, but coming right after Thanksgiving, it often feels rushed, like we need to cram every single thing in as quickly as possible so we can enjoy every ounce of the season with all of its wonderful, joyful festivities.
That’s what consumed me a few years ago, the year I finally said “Enough!”
It was the year all the stress caught up with me. I found myself like the author of Ecclesiastes, looking for meaning in the Christmas season and finding nothing. Wherever I turned, it felt like secularism had taken over all that should have been holy. Everything seemed to be about shopping, about finding that one “perfect gift.” The movies I watched didn’t mention the Christ child once. Even people I knew, people who’d shared with me they did not believe in Jesus as their savior, were putting up trees, exchanging gifts, and wishing people a merry Christmas. My soul grew weary and began to turn almost bitter with the realization. I found myself in a dark place that year, with the joy I’d always felt seeping away as the days passed.
One day I looked at the Christmas wreath on my door and shook my head. “Why do we even put these things up? Is all of this just some fairytale nostalgia about a mythical St. Nick in a place we’ve never even lived?” I’m sure I wasn’t too far off from my first bah humbug.
Then I started to research the Christmas wreath … and when I discovered its origin story, I was pleasantly surprised. Formed in the shape of a circle, Christmas wreaths are meant to symbolize the eternity of God, a ring of life that has no beginning and no end. It’s a holy circle—a promise, a hope and a power all caught up in one. With this new knowledge, my bitter heart started to melt.
With my eyes opened, I came to realize it’s not that Christmas is devoid of spiritual meaning. It’s that we, God’s people, have forgotten so much of it’s supposed to be.
It reminds me a lot of the Israelites in 2 Kings 22—how they’d veered so far from what the Lord wanted and what his commands were. Then one day, the king, Josiah, learned the Book of Law had been discovered in the temple. When the words of the ancient book were read aloud to him, Josiah tore his robes because he realized how far they had strayed (2 Kings 22:11). They had been defying God Almighty. Because God’s word had been hidden away, not talked about, not emphasized, the voice of the world clamored louder and eventually eclipsed the old teachings.
Like Josiah the king regained his zeal for following the Lord’s ways when he discovered the book, I regained my Christmas joy—as we say, the “Christmas feels”—by remembering the holy and focusing on what was meaningful during Advent.
You might not be familiar with the word “Advent.” You’re not alone. Growing up, our church didn’t talk about it very much. We’d say “Advent calendar” or recite the “Advent reading” at church, light the candles on the “Advent wreath” on the altar, but I just thought it was a fancy church word to describe Christmas or the weeks leading up to it.
But that Advent, I started to really pay attention. And I discovered Advent was what I was really missing—what I believe we are all missing in December. Advent is the four-week season of reflective preparation leading up to Christmas when we prepare for Christ's nativity at Christmas and Christ's expected return in the Second Coming. The first week, represented by a purple candle, focuses on hope. The second, also purple, focuses on peace. The third, a pink candle, focuses on joy, and the last, again purple, focuses on love.
This year I wrote an Advent devotional filled with personal and vulnerable stories to help people understand why it’s so important to really think about these themes during Advent as a way of preparing our hearts and our lives for Jesus. We are preparing not only to celebrate his birth on Christmas morning, but also preparing for his eventual triumphant return one day.
Writing the devotional was a powerful act for me because it felt like a gift of love. I wanted to share what I had learned with others so they could experience it, too.
We are all different people, and we find meaning and joy in vastly different things. But for me, focusing on the truly holy aspects of Advent and Christmas opened my eyes in new and incredible ways.
Advent begins this year on Dec. 3. And this year, I invite you to join me in celebrating Advent as you prepare for Christmas morning. Read the Bible, take prayer walks, do an Advent devotional, or listen to Christmas hymns that center on Jesus, not gift-giving or holiday romance. Watch Christ-centered movies, and do what you can to cultivate closeness to the Lord.
The weeks leading up to Christmas don’t need to be crammed with shop-till-you-drop sessions or pressures for some mythical perfect holiday. Preparing our hearts for Christ is the only focus we need..
If you are interested in my Advent devotional, you can get it at Amazon here https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CK3ZX3HN or on my website here https://www.jessicabrodie.com/advent.
WANT TO HELP SPONSOR JESSICA BRODIE’S WRITING MINISTRY BY BECOMING A PATRON? CLICK HERE.
THANKS TO MY SPONSORS: MATT BRODIE, EMILY DODD, KATHLEEN PATELLA, BILLY ROBINSON, AND LANNY TURNER.
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