1)
Give birth without needing surgery.
Nope.
2)
Have a baby that doesn’t need surgery.
*hysterical
laughter followed by hysterical sobbing*
3)
Convince The Accountant to get a Vasectomy
Yay a win! Turns out having a
mental breakdown can be incredibly persuasive.
4)
Use the F word less.
Nope. Literally used it in a
meeting at work the other day.
So, yeah. Could have been
better.
I find Christmas quite busy
and overwhelming anyway but it is even more so if your year hasn’t gone so
great. I am having to actively try to feel joyful and enjoy Christmas this
year, so I thought I would share a couple of the things that have been keeping
me sane.
1)
Remember that everyone lies.
I have a love hate relationship
with social media because I love keeping in touch with my friends and seeing
what they’re up to but sometimes what they’re up to (holidays in the Greek
Islands) is so much better than what I’m up to (waking up every 2 hours to feed
a new-born) that it makes me question my entire life.
But the thing is, social media
is one big lie.
Real life example - I bumped
into an old acquaintance one day and she told me that she had just had a
weekend away with her husband.
“That sounds really nice!” I
said.
“Oh no it was terrible.” She
replied. She went on to tell me they had fought for most of the time about
whether or not to have another baby, then he got food poisoning the second
night so was in bed for the rest of the weekend vomiting so they didn’t do half
the things they had wanted to do.
“I honestly wish we had just
stayed at home” she said.
And yet, that very night, what
should pop up in my newsfeed? A selection of beautiful sunset photos and couple
selfies with the caption “just had the
best romantic weekend getaway with this stunner, love you baby so blessed xxx”
Moral of the story – everyone
lies. It is a sad but comforting fact.
2)
Find your hope
When I type Jeff’s name into
my phone the suggested word that comes up is “vasectomy”. This is because I
literally told every contact on Facebook messenger about it. I was so excited.
I know next year will have its challenges because we have two small children
and are trying to start a business, but the fact I will not have be cut open or
breast feed or be responsible for a new born child again makes me so happy. This
year I gained so much hope and strength from my husband having this procedure I
can’t even tell you. Through the long nights of seemingly endless crying I
would take a breath and say to myself “I can do this because it is only
temporary and I don’t ever have to do it again.”
Maybe though, you’ve had
something difficult happen in your year that you might have to go through
again. Plan something nice for 2018. Set some goals, even if they are only
little. Treat yourself to something. There really is so much power in having
something to look forward to and hope for.
3)
Speaking of hope, remember the reason for the
season.
An even bigger source of hope
for me than my husband’s vasectomy is my Christian faith. Hebrews 6 verse 19
describes the hope Christianity brings as an “anchor for the soul.”
The real message of Christmas
is becoming increasingly lost in commercialised chaos and it is such a shame. I
think that now more than ever people need to know that we have a God who is
willing to reach down into our mess, love us, and offer us a second chance (or
in my case a 1050th chance).
As Christians, Christmas is a
time where we celebrate the love God showed to us in sending us his son. We
celebrate that we have a God who works in mysterious ways, but who ultimately works for the good of those who love him.
I don’t know
what next year has in store for our little family. But I do know this…
Neither
pyloric stenosis nor C-sections, neither financial pressure nor toddler
tantrums, neither mental breakdowns, nor excessive swearing, neither height nor
depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the
love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Merry Christmas dear readers.
See you in 2018 x
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