Advent Subtraction

I want to do stockings again this year.

We'd sort of let that fun, first morning tradition lapse at our house for the past few years. But this year - O glorious morning of wonder - there will be a full house waking up together, complete with the not-so-sleepy eagerness of little children to rouse us from our beds and drag us downstairs way too early and just in time.

So already, I'm collecting to stuff the stockings. Adding to the items. Gathering, piling, stashing.

And....subtracting. Adding to the trinkets. Subtracting to the "needed things" to do between now and Christmas. The last thing I want to happen is a last minute, thoughtless cramming. There's nothing worse than last minute, thoughtless cramming at Christmas.

Stockings.

Souls.

And it takes some subtraction to make it happen. What will I NOT do this Christmas in order to make it holy and hushed and real? Not just for me, inside of me, but for my family.

It's the calendar that gets the first purging. The calendar - my friend and foe, all in one fell swooping buzz of it. What will I NOT write there, so Christmas can be holy and hushed and real?

Then the budget. What will I NOT buy, so Christmas can be holy and hushed and real?

Then my preoccuative brain space. What will I choose NOT to think about, dwell on, mull over, worry about, feel sorry for myself for, so that Christmas can be holy and hushed and real?

How can I make sure that what I truly value and love and live for is properly celebrated this season? The holy things. The hushed things. The real things.

If stockings are important, then how do I do the Advent Subtraction to make it so?
And my people. If loving them is important....

And if perhaps one of the best things I can give to those I love is my passionately relaxed and full attention...what Advent Subtraction do I need to be sure is done, so that I can be fully present this Christmas?

And then, just now, it strikes me. What profound Advent Subtraction had to happen for Jesus to come and be fully present with us? All that He did NOT do or demand or collect for Himself in order to move from Heaven to Earth. Instead He "emptied Himself" (Philippians 2:5-11) totally. One giagantic cosmic taking away from....so Christmas could happen....

Holy...Hushed....Real.