I can feel the winds shifting. Literally. The desert just went from hot to cool! Thank goodness!

But I can also feel the winds inside me changing as well. The calendar is starting the fill up, the lists are being made, trips are about to happen, the parties are getting planned, the budget is shifting…the road to the holidays is about to be walked.  The “get busy, girl” feeling is welling up inside of me.

Am I going to let it eat me this year? I could.

Am I going to reach the end of the Thanksgiving and Christmas tired and needing a vacation? I could.

Or I could simply reach 2013 joyful, peaceful, and resting in the miracle of a baby that came to save me?

This year my choice for the holidays is to be…

intentional.

That is my word for the next 8 weeks. Intentional.

I am going to be intentional about my “yes”, intentional about the food I bake, the crafts we create, and intentional about how my time is spent.

Is what I am doing pointing back to Christ in some way or am I just spinning my wheels for the sake of being praised??? Because if I am honest when I get so consumed with my table looking like a magazine photo shoot that is not for Jesus that is for me and the hopes that someone will say “Wow!”

Here is my 3 step plan to experience intention in the holidays:

1. Choose Christ.

Before I pick up my phone, my hair dryer, or even my kids I will pick up Christ and choose to walk into my day equipped with God’s Word as the sustenance. This means I have to rise early so I don’t miss the opportunity. It means I have to have a reading plan (I will get you a copy as soon as it is done). It means I have to have my listening ears on and my journaling pen ready. I will choose Christ so I can avoid falling into the Christmas crazies.

2. Plan Pins.

If I could spend every minute of every day for the next 8 weeks decorating and crafting I TOTALLY would! I am a Pinterest girl and I have so many holiday ideas pinned. They are ALL amazing! But now it is time to get in there and narrow it down to what is realistic, what is meaningful, and what will create memories for our holiday season. I plan on picking 6 kid crafts and 2 mommy crafts to do between now and Christmas otherwise I will want to do ALL the cute things and feel disappointed when I can’t do all 80 billion things I have pinned. Along with planning my pins I will plan what parties we attend, what amount of money gets spent, and what food we will consume.

Manage your days don’t let them manage you!

3. Let Loose.

Last year we had a handful of couple friends over for dinner. I had made all the checks on the check-list, set a fashionable table, and had the perfect mood music playing. I pride myself on presentation. We all got to the table and were ready to eat when one guest looked down and realized there was no silverware! No SILVERWARE. Who throws a dinner party and forgets the silverware? It was even on my check-list!? All I could do was laugh…like a big laugh out loud laugh!

At the end, middle, or beginning of each day if something/anything starts to throw you into tailspin choose the laugh and choose to let it go. Don’t be remembered this holiday season as the one that was stressed, wound up, busy, crazy, and with no time. Be remembered as the one that laughed, loved, lived, and brought the joy of Christ into the house, restaurant, or party!

May someone experience Christ in a new or different way in the next 8 weeks because of who you are.

“So let’s do it—full of belief, confident that we’re presentable inside and out. Let’s keep a firm grip on the promises that keep us going. He always keeps his word. Let’s see how inventive we can be in encouraging love and helping out, not avoiding worshiping together as some do but spurring each other on, especially as we see the big Day approaching.” Hebrews 10:23 (MSG)

P.S.

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