There is no question that December is one of the busiest times of the year for many women, and hopefully for most. Aside from all the things we do all the time for our families (even if they are small), such as cooking, cleaning, laundry and ironing, running errands, financial management, trying to practice frugality, shuttling children, and talking to everyone and making sure they are happy and on the right path, in the month of December, women are primarily responsible for:
* Participating in Black Friday
* Making hundreds of cookies and other delectables for neighbors and friends
* Decorating the home and engaging in other kinds of seasonal craftiness
* Buying presents for children, grandchildren, extended family members, friends, co- workers, and teachers
* Wrapping all the presents for children, grandchildren, extended family members, friends, co-workers, and teachers
* Shipping gifts to out-of-town gift recipients
* Sending out Christmas cards
* Hosting a party or two
* Going to a party or two
* Cooking a fabulous Christmas dinner or part thereof
(Women who work outside the home get no reprieve.)
I thoroughly enjoy all these activities. However, in the midst of this, if we are celebrating Christmas as a Christian, rather than celebrating it a "seasonal holiday," then we are called upon to deepen our spiritual life and to prepare ourselves and our families for the coming of our Lord--a call I was reminded of today by Elena at Tea at Trianon--and is this not the most important task of all? This is a real challenge. This is not the season of late winter, as in Lent, when our social life may be attenuated by weather and focusing on our interior life seems natural. In this season, everything is drawing us out toward others and toward whirling-dervish spirals of hyperactivity. Now in the last few days before Advent, we need to prepare to prepare.
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