As we put the finishing touches on Christmas preparation, things feel particularly off this year. Pandemic on our minds, our gatherings will be smaller and our travel more simple. The date on the calendar is the same but somehow, everything feels different.

If you have a touch of anxiety, join the club. If you’re wondering if your celebration of Christmas is “good enough” or has enough traditions baked in, I get it. This year, perhaps more than others, we should toss those out the window. I don’t mean the traditions of merry-making. Keep those.

It’s the persistent thoughts of, “it’s not the same this year” or “it wasn’t supposed to be this way”. Point taken but God invites us to be present and to appreciate His presence. To do this, we can lean into a simpler Christmas, one more intentional and from the heart. The presents will be there but in 2020, it’s deeper than that. Much deeper.

Thankfully, God doesn’t require a white Christmas. Or a blue Christmas. Or a perfect Christmas. The celebration of the birth of His son isn’t relying on a vaccine to a virus. No minimum number of relatives is mandatory.

Only gratitude.

Thanksgiving for the birth of Christ many years ago and appreciation for how Jesus can change our lives still today. That’s all we need this year.