I don’t know what’s wrong with me, but this year I seem to be in a Christmas “funk”. Anyone else feeling that way? Normally by now, a week from Christmas Eve, I’d have had the tree up and the house decorated for the past six weeks or so, we’d have had at least one big family potluck meal, and several potlucks at work, as well as an office ornament exchange. I’d have practiced the church Christmas cantata for hours on end, and walked through the Festival of Lights with my mug of cocoa, all of which help ready my heart for Christmas. I’d have watched several friends in their own church cantatas, and felt the love of Jesus and the season overflow from my heart.

But this year, something’s missing. Really, all of it’s missing. To start with, we don’t have our tree up. Attribute that to the fact that we’ve (or mostly I’ve) been out of town 23 out of the past 36 straight
days. First, it was a business trip, then a family trip, then a different family trip that had been rescheduled. Granted, they’ve been wonderful. But I’m missing that still, that quiet, those moments to sit in the living room with all asleep, and look at the lights bouncing peacefully off the glass ornaments while the children and hubs dream of Santa and elves. There’s no office potluck this year, and no ornament exchange, and we haven’t had time yet to walk through the light festival. And sadly, I’ve lost count of the number of friends that we normally have an annual get-together with at Christmas that are just too busy this year for those two hours at the holidays I cherish so much.

Even yesterday… our family went to a Christmas program. It was beautiful, the Christmas story was told, carols were sung, candles were shining brightly… but something was still missing. It’s my absolute favorite time of year yet Christmas-loving Karen is one step away from saying Bah Humbug!

I dare not tell my friends; they’d think the real Karen had been abducted by aliens, and simultaneously look towards the sky for some sign of my return in a space craft. And worse yet, as the official Christmas matriarch of the Sipps household, how in the world am I going to get everybody else in the mood in a week, since they appear to forget Christmas is a week away too?

What does one who’s missing her Christmas Spirit do to reclaim it? Volunteer at a shelter? Read 12 Christmas stories a night to the kids? Consume more cocoa in the next week than I have in the past 30+ years combined?

It begs the question, where does Christmas come from? I know, it’s Jesus. He is the true reason for the season. But where does the Christmas season come from? Is it family? Friends? Food? Decor? Celebrating Jesus’ birth in church? Doing for others? Or all of the above?

Or is it, as I suspect, an intricate puzzle where one or more missing pieces can make the entire puzzle incomplete and odd? Which leads me to think of those who are missing a puzzle piece this year. Those who lost a family member to sickness or tragedy, who lost a job, or have no home to decorate. Their puzzles have pieces that will forever be missing, not just because longtime friends can’t make an annual cookie decorating / Polar Express movie-watching night.

Once we put our tree up this weekend (just before Christmas but that’s okay), no, our puzzle won’t be exactly complete, but it’ll be okay, and I’ll drop those other puzzle pieces in one at a time, even if my inner Christmas puzzle isn’t complete until mid-January.

In a few days, as I hang my ornaments and remember exactly how they found a home on our tree, I know I’ll say an extra prayer for those whose puzzles may never be complete, and who aren’t decorating for Christmas this year because doing so reminds them of something they don’t have. That one missing piece to their puzzle.

As for me, don’t worry, it’s never really possible for me to lose ALL of my Christmas spirit. Just remembering that my pieces will all come in time (and devising a way to talk hubs into keeping the tree up until Valentine’s Day) does miracles to any grinch! In the meantime, I think I’ll ask God to show me a way to help be a light for those with forever-missing-pieces. While I’ll never replace that missing piece for them, just maybe I can be God’s little Christmas elf here on earth for a few folks that need it. And that, my friends, is truly a puzzle piece we all need in our Christmas puzzles each and every year.