An interesting time, the holidays. I cracked a smile as I read the screen, "Holiday Hell' typed in bold letters across the reader screen at my church. Nothing like a little reality check to wake me up on a Sunday morning. But I appreciated the message, because for many of us, including myself, there are elements of truth reflected in those words to this precarious time of year.
For me, it is the expectations I have of what other people expect of me. I realize that's a bit twisted, but the truth doesn't usually run parallel to Easy Street, it's more of an intersection. The gifts, the people to see, the cards to send (which I haven't done in over 10 years but which I annually stress over), the 'wonder' that I'm responsible for my children to feel at this time of year. The hope that this year everyone will get along and there will be no misunderstandings, hurt feelings or uncomfortable silences with the extended family. Then of course there is the birth of Christ, "the reason for the season;" is every breath exuding my gratefulness?! And, am I sharing this incredible Christian celebration with all those who don't know or who don't care? If you have been able to read this far and not felt even a tinge of anxiety, congratulations. Do you have a pulse?
Getting back to that intersection I spoke of earlier, I caught a glimpse of it, with family in tow in of all places, a mall, on the other side of the world. My family and I were in Latvia and unlike the U.S. the mall looked pretty much how it looked at every other day of the year. There were no blinding holiday lights or blaring music, it was pretty empty in fact and I can't even remember what brought us there. We were probably feeling a little homesick, so we went to a mall? I diverge. We were ambling through the warmth of this huge structure and that alone was reason enough to be enjoying the moment. Latvia is frigidly cold in the winter. As we walked, unencumbered with not even one bag, we came across a display board. It was in a prominent location, smack in the center of the thoroughfare installed on one of the mall's posts. Although front and center, I'm not sure how many people noticed it since most people tend to hug the window displays and altogether ignore the center strip where in the States it's been turned into valuable kiosk space. But there it was. My daughter saw it first and in turn, we all looked up to see what she was looking at. There was a photograph of a very simple sheet cake. I remember it was a white frosted cake with a few simple flowers placed here and there and seven lit candles. The writing was in English. We rarely saw things in English. The closest thing we saw to anything religious was Orthodox, stiff and incomprehensibly bleak. We stood there for the longest time. The cake read, "Happy Birthday Jesus."