At the end of my recent podcast with Fr. Joel Sember, “What is Advent and why should I care?, I had him return to the main question.

He answered with another question, asking if we really want to keep running ourselves ragged with Christmas preparations until we’re more miserable — and a few pounds heavier — afterward than before.

All too often, the pre-Christmas frenzy becomes a point of dread. As Fr. Joel shared, somewhere around the three-week mark of Advent, “Gaudete Sunday” — which, ironically, means “joy” — we’re already spent. Our nerves are fried and instead of embracing the true spirit of Christmas, we fall apart.

If the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result, maybe it’s time to change things up so we can truly appreciate

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