Tuesday was our last small group. We had snacks, shared our high/lows, did a white elephant gift exchange, and ended the night with blessings. We shared with our small group leader (who is also one of the church pastors)something that we wanted for 2012, and then he prayed a blessing into each of our lives. One of mine was joy. And to trust God more. I do feel that I am more of a Debbie Downer, or as I prefer to think of it, Rachel Realist. But I think it would be better if I were more cheerful and optimistic.
Christmas is in 3 days. Usually at this time I'm excited and 'in the holiday spirit', but lately I've just been feeling stressed. Sometimes I think it's really hard being married during the holidays.
Both of our families want to do Christmas things at exactly the same time. I can't be in two places at once people! And even if it's staggered a bit, I hate leaving my family when they're just about to play a game or something to head off for another dinner. And compromising hasn't been so great in our household lately. We didn't see my family at all on Thanksgiving... mostly because my parents went out of state, and my brother and sister are gone now too, so we saw Hubb's family the whole day. It's not that I didn't like that, but now that it's Christmas you'd think we might be able to see my family a bit more. But no. We are seeing one side of his family on Christmas Eve day, and the other side of his family on Christmas. And squeezing in a few hours on Christmas day for my family. It stinks. I love his parents, I love his family, but they seriously all live in a 10 mile radius and get together a lot. My family is spread over Michigan and beyond so when we do get together- I want to be there. And I haven't seen any of my mom's side of our family since our wedding over a year ago.
Hence the stress.
I hate to air our dirty laundry online, but otherwise I've been turning into a sad sack by just keeping it in. So thanks for listening blog :)
I totally sympathized with your post: trying to be more optimistic and less 'realistic' (so funny I tell Josh the same thing, "I'm not pessimistic; I'm realistic"). ;) We also have been struggling with balancing being at both families this year. It does add a LOT of stress. :( Praying you will be more optimistic and have joy this year. :)
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