• I return today to this weekly writing practice of Five Minute Friday: Five minutes on a weekly prompt, no editing, just free-flowing words and stream-of-consciousness. And a supportive writing community hosted by Kate Motaung – head over to fiveminutefriday.com to learn more.

Simple: it’s what I find myself longing for even more this time of year, and even more so this particular year than before. As life has returned to “the new normal” after the pandemic, I feel like I wasn’t ready for the rush of Christmas to begin. The last few years we’ve had a collective forced simplification of the holidays. I’m thinking of Thanksgiving meals eaten outdoors, Christmas gatherings limited due to illness and caution about preventing illness, and just an across-the-board less full calendar.

Enter 2022 and I’ve felt like life is roaring back to the pre-pandemic level of activity and busyness and – yes – stress that can accompany all of the joyful holiday activities.

Last year, Advent was intentionally more simple in our home. A friend had asked me “what aren’t you going to do for Advent?” and that guided me into intentional simplification.

This year, I forgot to make space for simple. So in the interest of sticking to my five-minute limit, and my desire to be honest even (especially?) while “in process” – I’m ending here with a few questions for you:

What are you doing to choose “simple” for your Advent season?

Or, perhaps, what aren’t you doing so that you make space for simple to find its quiet way back to the place where we reflect in hushed wonder at the newborn babe sent to save the world?