Fa, la, la, la, lah, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, laaaaaaaahhhh!

On Facebook last week, someone posted a link to a blog by a woman who said that her Christmases in the 70’s were better than now. She talked about the cool toys she got and cool things she wore and the cookies and cupcakes and the memories. And how she hoped that the Christmases she was crafting for her own sons would be magical and extraordinary so they would have great memories, too.

I feel that way about Christmas in the 50’s. The way the house smelled with the real tree and the sugar cookies. The faux fireplace that Mother and Daddy made by covering Daddy’s knee-hole desk with brick-patterned crepe paper, where our stockings were hung. The tree-shaped sugar cookies that were slathered with green frosting. The way we got to open one gift on Christmas Eve, before we went to bed.

: The faux fireplace, with my big stocking and new baby JoAnne’s tiny one. What clever parents we had!

: Christmas Eve gift-a new nightgown!! Who would have guessed!?!

: All ready for the church Christmas music. Mother was anxious that, as we processed into the sanctuary, a candle-carrying child behind me might ignite my hair.

Of course the Christmases of our childhoods were better than now. WE WERE CHILDREN AND WE WEREN’T IN CHARGE OF ANYTHING!!!

We didn’t have to plan. We didn’t have to decide what to give to whom and how to budget and whom to visit and what to bake and whom to invite and what to wear and how to incorporate the holiday traditions of an ever-increasing number of people into one twenty-four hour time period. Or, twenty-four one-hour time periods.

We do this to ourselves, we Moms, Dads, Aunts, Uncles, Grandparents. We want the holidays to be magical and extraordinary for the children we love. So we try to re-create the magical, extraordinary things we remember from our own childhoods and we keep adding more magical and extraordinary things that we see (my advice, STAY AWAY FROM PINTEREST!), until somebody’s head explodes.

This isn’t an article about how to solve this problem. It’s just an acknowledgement that there is a problem. We get ourselves into this and we’re going to have to be the ones to get ourselves out. I’ve got to be more reasonable about what I can manage to do and how long it will take (then double that) and how much energy is going to be required (and double that).

I was up until 1:30 a.m. Monday morning finishing a gift. I wrapped it (later, after sleeping a couple of hours) and put it in the box with the rest of the gifts for my sister’s family and took it to the post office. I declined to pay $66.00 to get it to Seattle in time for Christmas Day.

I think it’s rather special, if, days after Christmas, the doorbell rings and it’s the mail carrier with a big box. Everyone can gather ‘round and open another gift. It’s like Christmas is extended for a few more magical, extraordinary days. After the hubbub of Christmas morning (or Christmas Eve, if that’s when you open your gifts), someone might say, “Well, that’s it for Christmas this year.” But someone else could say, “No, Aunt Gayle’s gifts aren’t here yet. We’ll have more to open in a week or so!”

A magical, extraordinary new holiday tradition!

I feel the same way about Christmas cards.

For the world offers only a craving for physical pleasure, a craving for everything we see, and pride in our achievements and possessions. These are not from the Father, but are from this world.
1 John 2:15 (NLT)

Christmas should be magical and extraordinary, but not at the expense of any of the participants. After I say to myself, “Yeah! I could do that,” I need to seriously consider if it’s really feasible. And then, if it’s going to bring joy and peace, or is it going to make me crazy. It is a self-control issue.

And a Merry Christmas to you, too!

Update on projects-in-progress