I’m a slow-buildup-to-Christmas kind of girl. One decoration at a time. And the tree shows up when I feel ready. No grand expectations here. “You do you” is my mantra when it comes to the holidays. While some are mixing twinkle lights with pumpkins, I’m protecting Thanksgiving’s autonomy like my life depended on it.

Today, I broke out the Christmas mugs to brew a cup of my favorite rooibos tea. The colorful mugs will be hung on my mug rack, replacing old favorites. And today festive greenery comes out of hiding while visions of tree-trimming dance in my head. Sometimes a nudge is needed to direct us to the next good thing. What Hobby Lobby couldn’t do for me with Christmas decor in September, Christmas mugs might accomplish on the first Friday in Advent.

My favorite book for the Advent season is God with Us: Rediscovering the Meaning of Christmas. The devotions I’m reading during this first week of Advent include a prayer that ends with the words “Amen. Let it be.”

Words from a popular Beetles tune, yes, but more importantly words from Mary’s lips when she learned she was chosen to given birth to the Christ as a gift from God to the world ~ “Here I am, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word.” To be “expecting” was not Mary’s expectation as she waited to wed her betrothed.

But the world had waited in expectation for centuries. Let it be.

“This is the irrational season
When love blooms bright and wild.
Had Mary been filled with reason
There’d have been no room for the child.”

Madeleine L’Engle

~~~~~~~~~

I haven’t done this for awhile, but today’s prompt from Five Minute Friday stirred something in me that’s been lying dormant for a few months ~ a desire to write. I’m linking up with other writers responding to the word “expectation”. Won’t you join us in considering the the promises held in this one word?