To Celebrate or Not To Celebrate?

Some days - I'll admit - my heart gets stuck in the expectations that I had going into this Thanksgiving and Christmas season. Many people around me knew I had a countdown going for Nov 1st - the first day of my second trimester, the "magic day" at which point I was hoping to leave morning (evening) sickness behind and begin to climb toward more energy and a healthier appetite. The Thanksgiving/Christmas season has always been a fun - albeit, exhausting! - time of year for L and I (from Nov 14th to the end of the year, our family celebrates my birthday, Thanksgiving, E's birthday, L's birthday, Christmas, our anniversary and New Year's...whew!), and this year we were looking forward to adding some fun baby milestones to the mix, the biggest of which was finding out the sex of the baby. So I had a lot of expectations for these days, and most days I wake up and make a conscious decision to lay those expectations down and ask God for new mercies and the ability to appreciate the days as He planned them, not as I had planned them.

A couple of nights ago, a night when I was really wrestling with some darkness in my heart in regards to some of the trials over the last few weeks, I wandered over to my friend's blog and found this post, inspired to her by this post on her friend's blog. It spoke Truth to me in an instant, refocusing my heart on the joy that is at stake this Christmas season, calling me back to the One this story is all about, reminding me that because He is Savior and the Christ, I have a Burden-Lifter and a Hope that He is making all things new in His time.

Not Celebrate? Your burden is too great to bear?
Your loneliness is intensified during this Christmas season?
Your tears seem to have no end?
Not Celebrate? You should lead the celebration.
You should run through the streets to ring the bell and sing the loudest!
You should fling the tinsel on the tree, and open your house to your neighbors and call them to dance!
For it is you above all others who know the joy of Advent.
It is unto you that a Savior is born this day.
One Who comes to lift your burden from your shoulders, One Who comes to wipe the tears from your eyes.
You are not alone, for He is born this day to you.
Ann Weems, Kneeling in Bethlehem