'Tis the season to lose your flippin' mind,--or not

I'm just going to go ahead and say it. These last few years I have not been feeling Christmas.  I would go  so far as to say, I find it oppressive. Maybe it's because the Christmas season now officially begins the day after Halloween.  This is particularly annoying because Halloween is my favorite holiday.  The opportunity for unbridled creativity, the lack of obligatory gift giving, now that's something to be celebrated.  The abrupt intrusion of Christmas leaves absolutely no time to bask in the glory that is Halloween, not to mention poor old Thanksgiving.  But I digress.  Maybe it's because I'm no longer a child, so rather than being the focus of all that "Christmas Magic", as a wife and mother I'm expected to be the origin of all said magic.  The decorations, the presents, the thank you notes, the food.   Oh and let's not forget all those friggin' cards.  I did not realize this would all fall on me when I said 'I do'.  To be fair, in recent years my husband has realized how I feel and has tried to help, with only a modicum of success.

I'm writing all of this not to vent, but rather to give you some idea what a welcome change this year has been.  I knew something good was afoot when my mother- in -law called to find out what my son wanted for Christmas.  This is not unusual, she usually checks in.  But this year as I struggled to think of what he might really want, (he's not really a toy-loving kid), she said she'd like to do something meaningful, not just give more stuff.  I could have hugged her through the phone.  What we came up with is one practical thing that my son had actually asked for, a soft new bathrobe, (what can I say he's a comfort junkie like me), and that she would chip in for the gymnastics classes that he will begin taking next month.  If any of you are homeschoolers you know what a true blessing it is to have help paying for classes.

Other things have fallen into place as well. My friend Jen, sent us a beautiful card with a montage of family photos.  I have long dreaded trying to choose the right Christmas cards for everyone.  Usually I end up buying one set of cards for our friends who are religious and another more secular set so as not to offend those of our friends who are not religious.  Neither one ever feels quite true to who we are as a family. Those who know me well know I am more spiritual than religious, so the manger scenes don't really represent, and the winter wonderland scenes seem a little ridiculous being sent from a place where the average temperature on Christmas is 65 degrees.  I've been considering a picture card as that is a trend that I really quite enjoy.  I know it sounds silly, but I really thought you had to choose just one picture.  The OCD part of me can never choose just one photo to represent a whole year.  Well, the one Jen sent had 9! Awesome, bless those geniuses at Shutterfly! I actually had fun putting together our card.   You can see it if you scroll down two entries.   They arrived just minutes ago, so there is actually a chance that some people will get theirs' by New Years. But in reality no worries because if we are commemorating Jesus' birthday for real, historians have figured that Joseph and Mary were probably traveling for the census somewhere closer to July than December, so I've got time.

Gift giving has been relatively painless, as well.  I didn't do a lot of shopping, and most of what I did do I did online.  Including a  fun trip to the Heifer Foundation site with my son, which I highly recommend.

The last thing that can make this time of year difficult, is trying to get together with family. If people live far away it's usually no small feat.  So imagine my delight at being able to see my sister who lives down south two days ago.

The whole thing was pretty magical.  On Friday I was in the parking lot at a grocery store that go to rather infrequently. I was just about to pull out of my spot when my sister called to ask me something about a package that she was about mail to us. We were chatting away about her recent wedding,( a charming, very private affair which she and husband pulled off quite seamlessly), when in the rear view mirror, I spotted her brother walking by. (Yes, I said her brother, it's an interesting story but other people tell it better than I could.) So I called him over to say hi to her, and she tells him she's going to be in town for work Monday.  So, when I get back on the phone we hatch a plan for both their families to come over for dinner when she finishes.  Now, mind you, her brother and I have been trying to get together for dinner for about 3 years now... Monday morning, at her request I called her dad who lives near by to invite him for dinner which by then I had figured would have to be potluck, since I am not Martha Stewart.  He's a very go with the flow kind of guy so he was totally up for it. Long story short, that night 11 of us gathered for an evening of laughter, love, and Indian food.

So my point is this, it's 4 days out from Christmas, I haven't written a single card, the only decorating I've done is to hang a wreath, and I have only a vague idea of what we will be eating.  In spite of all that, I am relaxed and having the best Christmas season I've had in years. Because rather than just get caught up in the madness, my family and I have communicated, figured out what we really want;  done it our way, made it ours.