Celebrating A Quiet Christmas in Christ

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Living A Different Sort of Christmas

My Christmas looks a lot different than it did two years ago. I admit, because of this, December can feel lonely and often bittersweet—leaving a heavy void in my “jolly” focus to celebrate. Christmas shopping of any kind has completely dashed for me, except for a few intentional online purchases. My thriving love for music in the season—abound in preparing for giddy choir performances, stellar piano recitals, and attending nutcracker symphonies in the great concert halls of Portland, Oregon—has drastically paused since my brain injury. 

I can no longer attend the countless extended family gatherings, dinners, and celebrations that our December calendar was filled with in my childhood. Even my own family has limited our traditions to only those I can capably participate at home. And as if these weren’t enough, I am not even able to attend Christmas church services due to my PNES seizures and anxieties.

In short, Christmas for me has stilled and quieted in a both rough & magic way. The celebrations I used to wholeheartedly adore are now something I I attempt to recreate and understand in a completely new way each day with the obstacles I’ve been given. Often, it can be enticing to discover a new radiant hope in my spirits. Other times, it is heartbreaking.

See related post: Enchanting Literary Quotes To Welcome Christmas

Celebrating A Quiet Christmas In Christ

But, my friend, despite all that has changed, the vital purpose of Christmas—the glorious birth of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ—remains evermore the same, and continues to keep me grounded in my purpose and love for Christmas. The glorious truth of Jesus’ birth 2 millennia ago in a lonely manger is what keeps my heart singing the sublime song of sweet hope in my broken world, celebrating in a different way as I heal, even if I remain apart from the resounding concert choirs. Angels still remain in our lives, testifying to us of Jesus, no matter our differences! In their company, whether we feel them or not, we can closer discover the true meaning of Christmas.

As I face the second quiet Christmas since my brain injury in early 2023, still apart from singing, family, traditions, choirs, and external events, I am striving to embrace the “different” of my own season by honing into the radiance of Jesus’ coming and what He gently places in my palms to do each day. Whether it’s threading dried oranges on a garland string, listening my favorite calming Christmas playlist while reading a favorite Christmas book, cuddling up in my coziest blanket to watch a jovial PureFlix romance, or tying the velvet ribbons to a handmade Christmas present I created, I am learning that the beauty and purpose of this season lies in the song of angels in our spirits and the coming of Christ, who will soon come again.

This itself is worth living a quiet Christmas for.

xo

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