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How to Avoid the Holiday Hustle
Christmas is just around the corner. Are you ready?
If you’re anything like me, this question might induce a strange mix of emotions: something between wonder and worry, warm fuzzies and total panic. On the one hand, we love the fun and festivity of the Advent season. We dream of creating special memories, curating cozy spaces, and cooking up delicious meals. But on the other hand, the holidays always seem to come with oversized expectations and a pressure to “do it all.”
Our merry preparations can morph into overwhelm. Our fun traditions and even our family devotional time can start to feel burdensome—just another task on the lengthy holiday to-do list. By the end of December, we limp exhausted over the finish line and into the New Year, grateful it’s finally over. In the hustle and bustle, we may even miss Jesus altogether.
If this sounds familiar, now might be the perfect time to step back and reassess. Before we get swept up in the holiday hustle, let’s take inventory, prayerfully asking the Lord to give us wisdom. As we consider making adjustments, three R’s can be helpful: remember, reprioritize, and remove.
Remember the Main Point
Advent prepares us to receive the good news of Christmas with greater joy. As I explain in Advent for Exiles, “Advent is designed to be a season of preparation and anticipation, the stoking of an ever-growing expectation for Christ’s arrival—both his first and his second.” We acknowledge the darkness within and around us to stir up a greater anticipation for Jesus, the Light of the World.
And so—though our culture might tell us otherwise—the main point of the holiday season isn’t buying gifts, decorating our Christmas tree, throwing parties, or even doing fun activities with our kids. The consumerism and hurry surrounding Christmas can desensitize and distract us, making us forget the reality of our need for Jesus and our ache for his coming kingdom.
As Christians, we can intentionally resist this tendency. During Advent, our primary focus should be on celebrating Christ’s first coming and anticipating his second. Like watchmen on the walls, we’re waiting eagerly for the King to appear, for the morning sun to rise (Ps. 130:6).
In the hustle and bustle, we may miss Jesus altogether.
With this in mind, we can filter our holiday traditions and activities through these simple questions: Does this stimulate or dampen my family’s excitement that Jesus came and is coming again? Will this distract me from the main thing or bring it more into focus?
Reprioritize the Essentials
Years ago, my Bible study leader, Leslie, used a helpful illustration that has shaped the way I think about the holidays. First, she held up a large glass jar. Then, she held up a container of sand and another filled with large rocks. The rocks and sand represented all the things we might do during the holiday season, and the jar represented our limited capacity and time. When Leslie poured the sand into the jar first, the large rocks wouldn’t fit. But when she put the rocks in first and then the sand, everything fit.
As our Bible study group entered a busy holiday season, Leslie wanted to show us the importance of prioritizing the essentials over the extras.
One of our biggest rocks during the holiday season—and in every season—is to spend time with the Lord through prayer, his Word, and participating in worship at our local church. Another essential rock this December might be to intentionally help our families celebrate Jesus’s coming, finding specific ways to dwell on the wonder of his incarnation.
Beyond these two essentials, we can ask the Lord to help us discern what’s more like a rock and what’s more like sand. Then we can make every effort to prioritize the essentials over the extras.
Consider what your activities suggest about your priorities. Prayerfully ask, What am I putting into my jar first—rocks or sand? Which activities are essential rocks that I shouldn’t neglect, and which are self-imposed extras or cultural expectations?
Remove the Extra
As we evaluate, we may realize some of our holiday traditions harm our ability to celebrate Christ’s coming. But many will fall into more neutral territory. Hanging lights on our houses, throwing a Christmas party, and baking gingerbread cookies aren’t bad. Activities like these can be sources of great joy for our families. However, as the rock-and-sand illustration shows us, too many good things can quickly crowd out the main thing.
Too many good things can quickly crowd out the main thing.
Even too many Christian resources can be a distraction. Although we may feel the need to implement a craft, a devotional, a memory verse, a Christmas carol, and an Advent calendar daily, it’s likely better to simplify. Consider engaging deeply with just one or two resources instead of trying to do them all. Or make it even simpler: Just open the Bible together, talk, and pray.
Consider making a list of all the extras—activities, traditions, and tasks—you take on during the holidays. Prayerfully ask, Which good things could our family remove to create more margin for the main thing?
Over the last few years, I’ve found immense freedom during Advent by remembering the main point, reprioritizing the essentials, and removing the extras. The gospel takes the pressure off, reminding me that I’m beloved in Christ whether I make a perfect holiday meal for our family or—more likely—burn the Christmas cookies to a crisp. I can filter out the extras without the dreaded mom guilt, leaving margin for Advent’s essential objective: to awaken our anticipation for Jesus’s second coming.
His arrival is just around the corner. Are you ready?
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