There are times when our best expectations turn into hopeless resignation.  The “most wonderful time of the year” can quickly turn into disappointment if we do not align our hearts with God’s purpose for the season.  Advent is the springboard to the true hope of God coming to be among us in the Christ child.  The question is not whether our expectations are realistic or unrealistic.  The question is whether we are preparing to enter into God’s great narrative or whether we are attempting to squeeze some irrelevant religious decoration into our over-scheduled, overdone holiday “festivities.”