“You will keep in perfect peace all who trust in you, whose thoughts are fixed on you! Trust in the Lord always, for the Lord God is the eternal Rock.” Isaiah 26:3-4 (NLT)

Here it is again. The holiday season has arrived and like most, I’m knee deep in shopping, decorating, entertaining and stuff that makes me crazy and somehow sucks the joy out of the reason we celebrate Christmas in the first place.

Don’t get me wrong – I LOVE the season, but it goes without saying that it’s an exhausting time of year. And don’t even get me started on what the season does to your body! I think when we flip the calendar to the month of December, there should be a holiday disclaimer like those label warnings on medications: “Warning - holiday season may cause fatigue, sleeplessness, headaches, backaches, indigestion, constipation and/or diarrhea and severe mental, physical and emotional exhaustion.” Naturally we can all expect a modicum of financial stress during the holidays which can lead to additional insomnia, high blood pressure, marital discord and in severe instances – suicide and death related heart attacks and strokes.

Are we having fun yet?

The entire month of December has me eyeballing the calendar and checking off the days until the New Year arrives and I can get back to “normal.” Like everyone else I make a mental checklist of all the things I’m going to do better in the upcoming year. Things like, get out of debt, be more positive and of course there’s that age-old, timeless resolution I make every year to the universe to lose weight and get healthy. (Pfft! Right!) Oh wait – is that only me?

It’s a known fact that the average person gains 7-10 pounds between Thanksgiving and New Year’s. You’ll be pleased to know that I’ve been doing my personal best to maintain that average year after year. I spend the first few months of each New Year trying to absolve myself from my buffet transgressions, holiday indiscretions and fruit cake indigestion.

It bears mentioning that my household is blessed with three family birthdays in December that require … no - make that DEMAND, birthday cake and ice cream at each celebration. From birthday cake it’s a downhill slide right into Christmas cookies and fudge that all but beg to be sampled, along with cheese balls, nut logs and chocolates that can only be described as pure sin. What’s a girl to do but don her elastic-waist trousers or sweatpants and snorf (yes I said s-n-o-r-f) down the evil that comes disguised in festive cellophane wrap!

The holidays have us (me)foregoing our stringent diet and exercise routines in lieu of potluck parties that require weeks of penance wearing our “gut-sucker-inners” (as my boss calls them) just so we can squeeze into our clothes and make it through to the next holiday get-together. It’s a vicious cycle … and one that necessitates careful planning for me personally as I’m forced to rearrange my closet to make my “fat-girl” clothes more easily accessible this time of year.

Porking up for the winter … packing on the pounds … settling into our winter weight … eating our weight in Christmas cookies or however you refer to the metamorphoses that happens every year at this season … most of us are “Weighting on Christmas!” Oh wait – is that only me?

But there is a light at the end of the tunnel … and it’s not the “Open All Night” sign at Denny’s lighting our way to a Grand Slam Breakfast buffet! No - the light is the glow from our rosy red cheeks as we turn the calendar to January and smile in gratitude that we get to begin anew … wipe the slate clean … start fresh and look to the beacon of hope that is a brand new year. January – the month when Weight Watchers, Jenny Craig, NutriSystem, 24-Hour Fitness, Pure Fitness and other gyms and weight loss clinics nationwide see their clientele more than quadruple!

Forget if you will that most of us have ditched our New Year’s weight loss resolutions by Valentine’s Day. Savor the moment while you can. Revel in the hope of a brand new year and the promise that this year will be different! Tell yourself “this year … I WILL weigh what it says on my driver’s license” and really mean it this year!

To all my friends and family … Merry Christmas to all and to all a good weight!

Thank you Lord for this blessed time of year. I pray peace and joy for one and all and for stress-free holidays spent with loved ones we hold dear. And for those we don’t hold so dear … I pray forgiveness and acceptance and the ability to love our neighbors as ourselves without judgment. Most of all, help me to remember that having a perfectly decorated house and tree, sending out dozens of Christmas cards or buying a Nintendo Wii for the kids isn’t the reason we celebrate Christmas … but it’s because You gave us the best gift of all by sending Your Son to us, so that we might be saved through Him! In your name I ask all these things, Father … Amen!