It’s that time of year again: Time to plan the decorations (perhaps this year we will find an extra cute ornament from Anthropologie), time to get the tree, time to write the cards (losing sleep over who gets one and who doesn’t). Then there is the Christmas menu, catering for all the needs of the family (the gluten-free, the dairy-free and the new college girlfriend who is an overly zealous vegan). Then comes the seating that requires as much political maneuvering and diplomatic tact as a UN General Council meeting. All accommodated for and sought out with festive cheer and hospitality. All of this planning, effort, stress and financial expenditure come and go in a flash and the 26th comes around and we are left feeling exhausted, heavy hearted about that awkward conversation with a triggering relative, left drawing a blank on something new to do with all that turkey or ham and ultimately asking what was that all about? What did we just celebrate?

There is only so much that tinsel and show-stopping desserts can cover up. That meticulously planned seating arrangement can only create a cease fire when all we long for is peace. The money and the pressure we put on ourselves to create a perfect Christmas experience just misses the point completely and misdirects us. It creates a pressure to perform, and the whole narrative around Christmas we have as a nation is a perfect fantasy that no family can live up to. All this just distracts us from what the incarnation teaches us: Jesus, the perfect man, fully God, came into an imperfect world to redeem it and redeem us. Broken people being made new, fractured families being healed, old hurts being brought to light and outcasts having a place at the table. This year let’s try and fail to live out the perfect fantasy. Let us remember that Advent and Christmas day are opportunities to be present with the ones we love, opportunities to be present with ourselves and an opportunity to wrestle with what it means to be imperfect but being made new, in an imperfect world that is being restored.