Christmas Stress

              It's here. Like some unwelcomed guest who rings your door bell when you're house is messy or when you have a cough attack in Church.......Christmas Stress. For a lot of people it creeps in slowly and builds to a crescendo December 23rd or so. Not me...It kind of hits me all at once. Yesterday it hit me with gangbusters. The crowd's desperate energy infected me and my heart started to race. Sugar, Darn, Son of a bean sprout!....I'm trying not to curse. Why? why has it turned into this? Why can it not be like Thanksgiving? good food family and ....done. I know I know...believe me I am not a scrooge. I love the window lights, carols, the tree and of course thinking about Jesus and how he was born. I love everything about Christmas but the hassle of getting up before the sun to get some overpriced toys that will probably be found a month later at the bottom of the toy bin.Or better yet trying to find a gift for the person who has everything....and likes nothing. I have a tradition at our house. Every year I buy a new Christmas book and display it. It always makes me smile when I see a guest pick up one of the children's books and start to read it. They are fun and beautiful and remind us of a sweeter time in our lives when Christmas was magical. There's that word again...MAGICAL...I love it. See... I feel better already. I have spent ten minutes today reading a few of those books...Bliss.  Here is my pick for today. I got it back in 1995 on my Husband's and my first Christmas as a married couple. Its a beautiful picture book.