Dear God,

It’s the day after Thanksgiving and I am bombarded from every side by advertisements urging me to spend, spend, spend…the kids are home from school…the calendar is full…church activities, school concerts, volleyball games, Christmas pageant, sleepovers and more…there are six loads of laundry waiting…my daughter wants to go shopping…snow is on its way…there are bills to pay…and worries about whether there is enough money to pay them…and then there will be additional bills that Christmas shopping will create…the dog wants outside…I am feeling overwhelmed…I’m tired…my son wants to go to the library…there is grocery shopping to be done…and meals to be fixed…every day…the dog wants back in…our annual letter needs to be written and printed and folded and stamped and mailed…and I’ve agreed to take on another responsibility…what was I thinking…my best friend has moved…to another state…and I miss her a lot…the cat wants to help me type…when did Christmas become less about the Christ child and more about shopping...the car’s oil needs to be changed…the dog wants to go for a walk…there are 12 years of photos waiting to be put into albums…and then there are things that I want to do…