Rev. Michelle's Message December 11, 2025

We are now well into the holiday season, and things may be starting

to feel a little bit hectic and stressful. I saw a meme on Facebook this

week that addressed this issue and I wanted to share it with all of

you. It said:

Remember this season, it’s okay if:

•  Your dishes don’t match

•  Your tree/house aren’t elaborately decorated

•  You don’t have a big, fancy gathering

•  Your idea of festive is more of the “all is calm, all is bright”

variety

•  You opt for small, thoughtful, and/or handmade gifts

•  Your photos are the behind-the-scenes kind instead of posed

I thought this was such a great reminder for us to stay focused on

what’s important this holiday season, and resist getting caught up in

the materialism and perfectionism that are easy to succumb to this

time of year. I know this time can be very stressful for many folks, but

I’ve been reminded in numerous ways this week that so much of the

stress is of our own making.

There can be so much temptation to try to make our own holidays

“Hallmark perfect,” but the truth is that we can choose what kind of

holiday we want to have.

We can choose not to hold ourselves or others up to unreasonable

standards. We can choose not to have grandiose expectations for

ourselves and others. We can choose to step off the crazy train and

intentionally carve out moments/hours/days of peace for ourselves

and our families during this time.

In this Sunday’s lesson, we will be exploring this theme of peace as

we learn about the role of the shepherds in the Nativity. Together, we

will learn ways we can experience more peace, both during the

holiday season and through the year.

Peaceful Blessings,

Rev. Michelle