Christmas is not in the meat....

"In the season that is meant to fill us with peace, hope and joy, we are surrounded by the call to buy, spend, be something for everyone, join the race of getting all for all! It requires attentive thought to step out, slow down, see the little things and hear the quiet that needs less......"

Sharing these words the other morning before running out the door, kept me thinking the rest of the day, so here is the extended version. 

It is everywhere! In the stores in sparkly, flashy, 'lookatme' wrapping,on billboards, in news paper adds, in your car if you have the radio on.
                                                              It is everywhere...
 even as you walk in the door after a long day with a sigh of relief you shed your coat and shoes -
you are home......but even here, in your own little sanctuary, it comes seeping out through the tv.

Some commercials are ridiculous, others hilarious but each one is put together and on multiple layers selling the intangible and invisible things ......... joy/peace/status/respect/ visibility etc. etc.

I see beautiful long tables, decorated and set with everything perfect, ready to wow a king. I get sucked into this dream, my mind working on how to make this happen until looking into our dining room and reality lands, because there's no way a long table would fit.
               
               And this is just coming from the outside adding to what goes on inside you!

 What about tradition?????? Or; this year needs to match or be better than last year????

For a few years I've tried to have the Danish traditional flæskesteg as the meat for our Christmas eve dinner. There is a story connected to each year about this tragic piece of meat that seems to be impossible to get here in Portland.
The time spent, not only trying to find a place that will sell it, but then explaining what exactly it is to the butcher, then answering phone calls from the butcher with follow-up questions, to picking up a piece of meat looking no where near the piece I was expecting to get, to one having the order canceled on me a week before needing it, left with the; now what......

                    

                                           We are having pulled pork this year!

why? because it is easy, it is delicious, it is doable and most important: Christmas is not in the meat!!

And here's a thought;

 - In all the running around, in all the busyness, in all the striving to make that evening/day  special 

               
                  - how many little moments am I missing that could have been special..........

I realized how easy it is to get caught up in the frenzy, to get stuck in tradition,  get sidetracked from the simplicity of this season, and the fact that we need to be alert to what we see/listen to and discern not only what it is saying, but also to what it is doing inside us.
It takes conscious thought to be present and focus on what matters

         
         - to not forego the special in the here and now in my aim to make a future day special.

-b