the christmas wash-up

I know that there are people who only go to church at Christmas and Easter, turns out we don't go at Christmas. I suppose it was inevitable but I was still surprised that my body decided to pack it in and not cooperate at Christmas. I eventually got out of bed at around midday on Christmas day after battling a splitting headache all night and all morning.

I suppose on reflection I should have seen it coming. The last few months haven't been the best. My husband resigned from his work, our kids have been tag teaming infections for the last few months, so there hasn't been much unbroken sleep and they have been miserable the poor poppets. And in the last week I organised my first ever toddler carol service, we moved house, drove interstate and then had a big family dinner on Christmas Eve as we prepare to farewell my brother and family as they move overseas, and as we miss my Dad who died this year. There you have it.

So I was so thankful that I had been doing an advent calender with my sons. They and I had been reflecting all month on the exciting story of Jesus' birth, as God came to dwell among human beings. We have been 'getting in the mood' for Christmas the last 3 and half weeks or so. So I suppose that it wasn't a disaster that Christmas morning wasn't all I had hoped. And we all quite enjoyed our lunch of scrambled eggs and smoked salmon instead of the more gourmet meal we had planned. 

As Arch Hart would put it, I've been living 'outside the box of my human limitations' (it's not exactly the same but there's a summary of the idea here) and my body finally let me know about it. I seem to recall the same thing happening last year but on boxing day. Of course then we had a four week old baby, but there always seems to be something.

Now to spend some time with family and friends and away on holidays and recharge the batteries. Needless to say we're praying for a calmer 2012...