In one of Alfred Burt’s spritely Christmas carols, the text reads, “We’ll dress the house with holly bright and sprigs of mistletoe. We’ll trim the Christmas tree tonight and set the lights aglow. We’ll wrap our gifts with ribbons gay and give them out on Christmas day. By everything we do and say our gladness we will show… And ye, who would the Christ Child greet, your heart also adorn, that it may be a dwelling meet for Him who now is born. Let all unlovely things give place to souls bedecked with heavenly grace, that ye may view His heavenly face with joy on Christmas morn…”
Beyond all the busy, joyful, exhausting preparations for Christmas, the most important is the preparation of our hearts. That is the real purpose of Advent. We always manage to get the long list of Christmas tasks done somehow, but preparing our hearts can easily be put off in the other frantic responsibilities of the season. If we can remember to take a deep breath, sit down and prepare our hearts, perhaps even the rest of the preparations may seem less of a stress. If we relax a bit in the presence of God, we might even find the peace of Christmas alive in our souls.