Has anyone else had a messy lead-up to Christmas?

My wife, daughter and I arrived back in Australia at the beginning of October, and we have spent the last few months furnishing our house, finding our feet, reconnecting with family and friends, and… renovating.

Yes, before the arrival of baby number two, we decided to remodel our entire living room, bathroom, laundry — and more. While our home is now mostly functional again, many projects remain half finished, and I have spent more than a few evenings with paint brush in hand.

Adding to the pre-Christmas pressures were weeks of car trouble, a delivery man driving his motorised pallet jack into our verandah post, an erratic irrigation system that keeps going off at unscheduled times, an up-coming visit from Angie’s parents throughout January, and I almost forgot — my wife’s 37-week pregnancy!

The scales finally tipped when, the day before we were set to host my family for an afternoon of Christmas baking, our toilet pipes decided to back up.

Let’s just say there were some tense conversations in our home these past few days, and a glaring deficit of Christmas spirit.

Fortunately, there was a happy ending to our stressful saga. The baking day was a hit, the plumbing didn’t spoil anyone’s fun, and Angie and I ended the day relaxing on the couch, raving about how enjoyable it was hosting our little Christmas shindig.

I told my wife that my highlight of the day was seeing Squish and her cousin huddled together on a stool, and getting just as involved in the day’s baking activities as the rest of us.

This week’s events have reminded me what makes Christmas special. The silly season is not mainly about getting through our frantic to-do lists, as important as they may be. Christmas is a time to slow down, be with the ones we love, and take time to appreciate the blessings in life and the joy of family.

Christmas and family go hand-in-hand for the very simple reason that it’s always been that way. Recall that the very first Christmas centred on a family — the Holy Family — welcoming their newborn Son into the world.

More than any other Christmas, this year I have empathised with Joseph and Mary. Seeing my wife’s continually frustrated efforts at nesting, I understand how Mary would have felt traveling sidesaddle on a donkey for a week, not knowing when or how her baby would be born. And as I have scrambled to make our house feel like a home for my wife, I relate to Joseph, whose best efforts on his wife’s behalf still saw them lodging in a lowly animal shed.

When I am tempted to complain about the mess at our house, I do well to remember that Mary, Joseph and Jesus tolerated a much messier stable than ours.

But they had each other. They were family.

Most important of all, it was through those very messy circumstances that the Saviour was born, and hope entered our world.

The mess of that first Christmas wasn’t enough to turn away a parade of visitors to the manger — whether shepherds from a nearby hillside, a menagerie of livestock, or wise men from distant lands.

“Do not be afraid,” the angel urged in his invitation to the herdsmen. “I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be to all people. For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Saviour, who is Christ the Lord. And this will be the sign to you: You will find a Babe wrapped in swaddling cloths, lying in a manger.”

No doubt, it was a messy venue that greeted those shepherds down in Bethlehem. But it didn’t matter because the scene was flooded with love — the love of a family, and most of all, the love of God in the face of His Son, Jesus Christ.

So whatever your Christmas looks like this year, remember that clutter and chaos have always been part of this ancient celebration — and that God is with us in our mess.

From my family to yours, have a happy and holy Christmas!

Now excuse me while I call the plumber.

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Image courtesy of Unsplash.