Holiday Stress....RELIEF!

Admit it. The holiday season is upon us and you are feeling just a bit overwhelmed. I don't know too many people who don't feel at least a little bit stressed working their way through the end of the year. For me, working is the operative word, but that is the topic for another time and is not the reason for this post.

I have a Cure for treating the stress we can often feel during the Christmas season. Throw a Party! "You've got to be kidding me!!!" I can hear it now. It is almost unanimous. Holiday entertaining CAUSES stress.... That may be true, but if it is, its is because you are doing it all wrong.

Throw a party where it is not about you. Throw a party where it is not about your guests. Throw a party where it isn't about your house (which incidentally, is only worth a fraction of what it was last year) or you marvelous collection of Christmas decorations.

Throw a party for complete strangers! Throw a party for people you have never met. Better yet, throw a party for people that you will never meet. Oh, and by the way, ask your friends and neighbors to help out. That is exactly what we did last night.

I have been leading a Table Group in our neighborhood for about 3 years now. There is a core group of families, totalling about 18 people that meet monthly for dinner. Dinner, that's it. Well actually, that isn't it. "IT" is COMMUNITY! We have committed to get together to be together. We simply Share Life.

We were scheduled to have our December gathering when a thought struck me. Willow Creek Community Church and World Vision have combined efforts to collect gifts for Ministry Partners in the Chicagoland area. The initiative is called, Stock the Storehouse. Why not combine the two? So we did. I printed off invitations and delivered them to every home in our neighborhood (77 in all). The rest of the group distributed invitations to friends, neighbors and associates. Over 100 families were invited to an Open House in our home.
The elf in the red shirt is me. You probably can't see it in the picture, but I was wearing an Elf hat with big Elf ears. I was in charge of greeting our guests.

Did we have 100 people show up? No. Did we have strangers show up? Yes. Are they strangers any longer. I think not... What about those people that we will never meet? Here is what we collected for them. Everything pictured is brand new. All in all, there were 13 winter coats, 46 pairs of gloves, 20 hats, 19 toys, 13 pairs of pajamas, 14 pairs of socks and 2 sweatshirts.

I want to extend a heart-felt thanks to the whole TABLE! I couldn't have done it without you. Oh, and for those of you have left little "surprises" for Karen and I, you really shouldn't have, but, THANK YOU!!!

Merry Christmas!

Happy Holidays!

"place politically correct holiday greeting here"