A room lit by candlelight, a long table overflowing with sweet and savory snacks, celestial music and 90 church ladies engaged in lively conversation. What better way to begin the Christmas Season? Every year the women of Morrow Memorial Church gather on the first Tuesday of Advent to take a breath and reset for the holiday season.

We pause to remember the beautiful mystical reason for Christmas and vow to keep inhaling deeply throughout the feverish season. Some church ladies are able to keep their promise to themselves and forgo the freneticism that accompanies our commercial Christmas. Others wake up the next day and get launched onto the ever-spinning hamster wheel of daily obligations.

But no matter what awaits us, we have these two precious hours to reset, refresh and remember to breathe in the presence of dear friends.