'Tis the season to ... slow down?

I've recently started reading Not So Fast, Slow-Down Solutions for Frenzied Families, by Ann Kroeker. I haven't gotten very far because . . . well, because I've been too busy. I haven't been making time to read books like I used to. I've grown more accustomed to Twitter streams and (short) blog entries. I've been slowly turning myself twiterate rather than literate.

But there is something about Ann that draws me in. The things she says, both in her book and her online presence, that gives me pause and makes me think more about being intentional. It has been a long time since anyone or anything online has challenged me to the point of change. I need this challenge. Maybe now more than ever.

December, ah, the season of peace, which, ironically, is usually anything but. Rehearsal for the Christmas concert? Check, check, check (three kids, three different rehearsals). Actual Christmas concert? Check. Church Christmas party? Check. Homeschool friends Christmas party? Check. Sewing like crazy because that's what I do in December? Check.

Advent preparation? Finding time to savor the things we all claim we love about this month? Well . . . maybe not so much.

On Ann's blog yesterday, she posed this question: "This Christmas, as schedules grow more hectic and shopping threatens to consume . . . what do you want to be sure not to miss?"

Oh man. Do I really have to answer that? Should I even try? Isn't it all obvious? I don't want to spend so much time on activities that pull me away from time with my family. I don't want to miss making them breakfast because I've stayed up too late (again) doing one thing or another. I don't want to squash my girls' desire to learn to sew because I'm too busy (sewing) to give them the attention that requires. I don't want to miss the joy my kids experience as they count all the houses with Christmas lights as we drive around. I don't want to miss snuggling on the couch with my husband while watching a movie because I'm on the computer writing something (or tweeting something).

In a season that at its core is supposed to be about Jesus, I don't want to miss Him completely. If I'm not careful, that's exactly what I'm going to miss. And I don't want to. I really really don't want to.