This Christmas I find myself pulled between two different desires. On the one hand, I want to simplify Christmas in our home, paring it down until all that is left is the bare trunk of the proverbial Christmas tree (the “root of Jesse,” if you will). On the other hand, after 18 Christmases as a Hoff, I want to create some new, fresh traditions to bulk up our celebrations – meaningful, purposeful, beautiful moments that help take my family’s eyes off of the absurdity that December has become and anchor them back on the incredible and intensely profound moment when the godhead veiled himself in flesh.
It's not an impossible dichotomy, but it’s not a natural one either, and it does stretch one’s mind to find ways that these two desires – simplicity and solemnity – can come together.
With four boys ages 9-16 at three different schools, a professor husband whose semester has to gear up before it winds down, and my job as the Children’s Director for our little church (where I am guilty of adding activities to already frazzled family calendars), how could I pare things down and at the same time bulk things up? And when on earth could I do it?
Well, we have to eat.
I remembered something I had read several years ago. It sounded like a nice idea at the time, but I was too breathless in that season to give it much attention – toddlers and school programs and baby asthma and such. I recently flipped back to it and this December feels like just the right time to give it a go.
It’s simple. It’s solemn. It has food. This year we’re going to have a Shepherd’s Meal on Christmas Eve.
I first read about the idea of a Shepherd’s Meal in Sally Clarkson’s book The Life Giving Home, though she originally wrote about it in her book The Life Giving Table and has written about it and recorded a few podcasts about it since (you can read one of her lovely accounts of it HERE). The basic gist of a Shepherd’s Meal is to eat a rather simple meal similar to one the shepherds would have eaten (loosely interpreted) on that very first Christmas then read the nativity story together. Over the last few weeks, I have read several articles and blog posts about how other families have instituted this tradition over the years – and it looks beautifully different for each family. That’s a huge selling point for me. I need the freedom to match my expectations to my family, not the “fine China” family nor the “toddler season with sectional character plates” family. We are a “rough-around-the-edges-teen-and-pre-teen-boys-only-with-tired-parents-who-all-love-each-other-and-Jesus” family, and I need to be able to work with that. Ragtag and rustic is much more our vibe.
Guys, I am so excited.
I’m excited about the menu I’m planning – basically a giant charcuterie board but heavy on the meats and light on the fancy cheeses. I’ll cook and cut up a giant sausage, crusty bread and some hummus and butter, fruit, goat cheese (for me!), and a potato soup recipe Sally shares in her book.
I’m excited about the environment I’m going to lay out – our dining room table set with candlelight only, our star projector on the ceiling and a “Campfire Ambiance” soundtrack I found on YouTube playing in the background. Maybe even an open window depending on what Texas weather decides that night.
I’m even excited about the dishes we’re using – a variety of stoneware bowls and platters that I bought from the thrift store for just this occasion, sold as a mismatched set for $3.50!
And I’m excited – so excited – for the simplicity and solemnity of it all. Soup in a crock pot simmering all day, bowls upon bowls of various foods that my family loves and can DIY their own happy plates, my little family together, focused on each other and the incredible story of a night when the thrill of hope left a weary world rejoicing.
After the meal, we’ll read together the familiar nativity account in the gospel of Luke. Angels sent by God to humble shepherds in the fields, doing the same thing they did every night. Shepherds sent by angels with God’s peace to witness the fulfilment of the promises He had made over and over since the fall of mankind. Young, poor, newlywed travelers and their tiny shivering baby called Immanuel – “God with God from the beginning, suddenly now God with us.”
Simple. Solemn.
I cannot wait for December 24 - our first Shepherd’s Meal.
Whether you try your own Shepherd’s Meal or roast a goose yourself, whether your Christmas is all hustley and bustley or soft and slow, whether you’re photo-ready in matching jammies or ragtag and bedheaded, I hope your Christmas is merry and bright with the joy and peace of our Savior who has come, making his blessings flow far as the curse is found!
