Last night, we were sitting in front of the fire reading our first story of the new season — The Christmas Cat by Tasha Tudor. It seemed awfully quiet for a few minutes, and I was able to read several pages without being interrupted. Then I looked over and saw my two-year-old standing on top of the barstool shaking a torrent of fish flakes onto our poor, unsuspecting goldfish.

“Oh no!” all of us noticed at once.

This required an immediate rescue attempt on my part, and we had to abandon our story. The little fish was gulping food as quickly as she could — so much! So good! So fast into her belly!

I scooped her into a little container, then dumped out her murky bowl and replaced it with clean, clear water. She kept gulping all along, trying to fill herself with every flake she could see.

This reminded me of how we parents go into the Christmas season. So much! So good! So fast! Our kids really don’t require anything but love and hearing the True Christmas Story, but what do we do? We pour as much as we can on top of them — to the point of complete saturation.

Several years ago when my son started preschool, I was in for a surprise at his first Christmas party. I arrived a few minutes early to help pass out napkins and snacks, and I saw one of the mothers out in the hall in front of the classroom. She wore a gigantic red Rudolph nose, antlers on her head, and a brilliant Christmas sweater complete with red-and-white-striped knee socks. When I got closer, I noticed she was frantically wrapping pipe cleaners around candy canes that had little eyes glued on.

“Won’t these be adorable?” she said to me, in a breathless voice. “I’ve just got six more to make!”

That was an epiphany for me. I realized what I was stepping into — my pace quickened. Christmas crafts! Songs! Activities! Santa lists! Themed Christmas trees! Buying presents beyond our means! And don’t forget — adorable Christmas outfits that stay clean for pictures — and everybody smile!

Too much of a good thing? Maybe so. In our haste to give our kids everything, are we really giving them anything? I have opinions on a few issues — and since I’m blogging this year — I’ll tell you my thoughts. Stay tuned.

Tomorrow is the first day of Advent — now this is something I anticipate with great joy. I hope you’ll stop in and pick up a few ideas to help keep the focus of your home on the true Joy of the season.