Holiday Season Part 2: God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen

Well our Holiday Season posting started off slow and trailed off from there. So here I am resurrecting the theme in the second post. There are many things that I love about Advent, aside from celebrating the incarnation of our Savior to enter into our world to identify with us in suffering and secure peace with the Father as the sacrificial Lamb, such as scarves. I recently got my yearly cold winter scarf and really enjoy it. It was cheap at the Gap and has a nice print on it. What I enjoy most about scarves, is the feeling of a proper English Gentleman that accompanies it (I will even don the wool coat to complete the ensemble). This year, I was feeling so proper I decided to shave off the 'ol beard, which is a standard this time of year. But it is so nice to snuggle up on the coach next to the illuminated yule tree with a scarf, a nice glass of scotch, and a feeling of rest.However, that is not where rest is. Rest is also in stay-cations. I am taking Wed-Thurs. off work until the last two weeks of December and am looking forward to relaxing at home. But the problem is always the hustle and bustle that it creates for the days surrounding the stay-cation. But I am going to try and be diligent to not fall into workaholic mode when I am off the clock. Additionally, it has been tough lately resting at night because Dolly's morning sickness seems to accompany bedtime, and sometimes after I have already fallen asleep. The waking up makes my body feel like it was naptime more than bedtime. This has lead to the only cure for insomnia I know; reading a biography of an obscure Dutch-Presbyterian Apologist. Nevertheless, true rest isn't found in stay-cations, dutch-Presbyterians, or cool winter scarves that make one feel like a Gentleman. It is ultimately in Christ, and it is exciting that we have a season that commemorates his incarnation in literal tidings of comfort and joy. His incarnation is our comfort and joy because the work that he came to do (atoning for our sin, saving us from Satan, sin, and death) is the only place that we find real rest.

God rest ye merry, gentlemen
Let nothing you dismay
Remember, Christ, our Saviour
Was born on Christmas day
To save us all from Satan's power
When we were gone astray
O tidings of comfort and joy,
Comfort and joy
O tidings of comfort and joy