For years I’ve each been celebrating Christmas with my own family. Traditions and holiday plans might change occasionally, but for the most part, I know what to expect (like many others who still live with their parents).

For me, Christmas starts at my Grandma’s house with my aunts, uncles and cousins, each of us opening a present from Grandma and Grandpa and devouring Grandma’s notorious chocolate fudge (which is quite deceiving, I might add. For it makes you think you just a few more pieces will be worth it, but then after six or seven more your stomach tells you otherwise…). On Christmas morning, the celebration takes a turn for the comfier, my brother and parents and I, clad in pajamas, read the Bible’s Christmas story and eat my mom’s cherry turnovers before opening gifts around the tree. When lunchtime rolls around, we head to my great aunt’s house for the extended family celebration, usually lasting all day. Along with some baking and caroling, that summed up Christmas for about the last twenty years.

For the first time this year, though, I attended my boyfriend’s family Christmas (and enjoyed all the grandchildren having to sing!), and it occurred to me that once I graduate college and eventually get married, my parents will no longer decide how holidays play out for me. What will I do with my own family? How will we split time between sides and what traditions will we make of our own? How will I make my own Christmas about celebrating Jesus?

I never really considered it before, but in church this week the pastor talked about how holidays become stressful because we have to make plans with so many people, decide where we will go and how we will divide our time, how much money and time we will spend on each gift, and what sacrifices we will make. Unfortunately the list goes on... It completely takes the focus off of the reason we celebrate and steals any and all joy we should be experiencing.

What? I mean I think I’ve played my kid role pretty well, going where my parents say and doing my part, but this adult thing sounds hard. I didn’t realize how many expectations and responsibilities came with making decisions about a single holiday, especially one about our Savior.

I don’t know the answer to this problem, but I do know that the season is not about the people we disappoint or the gifts that are given. It’s about celebrating Jesus, and that might mean not making everyone’s holiday just perfect. Galations 1:10 reminds us, "Am I now seeking the favor of men, or of God? Or am I striving to please men? If I were still trying to please men, I would not be a servant of Christ." If we are doing as much as we can for the purpose of serving God, then no one else’s opinion matters.

I suppose I have some deciding to do very soon, but I think what would make God most happy is seeing me find joy in the things I can do and in serving him in doing so. Each party I get to attend and gift I get to give or receive is one more thing that He has blessed me with, and being thankful for that is more important than the one that I cannot attend or the things that I didn’t get to do. People may not understand, but God does, and He will work out the rest.