When I was a pastor, we did an Unplug the Christmas Machine workshop. One of the comments made in the book by Jo Robinson & Jean Coppock Staeheli is that in getting ready for Christmas people often use up the time they usually use to recover and maintain themselves. This may be more true for pastors and church leaders than almost anyone else. It struck me then that the time I used every day writing Christmas cards was that recovery time, and I started sending cards after Christmas instead.
Over the years I’ve done various things every day in Advent to sustain myself rather than deplete my energy. Sometimes I sing one obscure Advent hymn a day (the kind that we Baptists never sing). I make sure to take my walk after dark so I can enjoy the lights on people’s houses. I read Christmas with Martha Stewart Living, without feeling an ounce of pressure to make my house look like Martha’s.
What are you doing for yourself this Advent?