I can remember years when the big kids were younger, and I was too, that I was done with Christmas long before Gaudete Sunday. I would start shopping in January for the next Christmas \u2013 catching the perfect gifts on sale and packing them away until sometime in November when I\u2019d lay them out and see what else had to be done. I made lists of things to do, things to buy, and things to make.<\/p>\n
The tree went up early, often the week before Thanksgiving (which was never at our house, so it didn\u2019t matter), and every inch of our house was perfectly decked for Christmas. I hung swags and garlands, tied bows, and arranged nativity sets just so. My mother in law gave me a cordless glue gun for my birthday, and I was thrilled because Christmas decorations got a whole lot easier.<\/p>\n
I worked so hard to make our celebrations look perfect. It became my song of love to my family \u2013 being able to give them a perfect Christmas. I can remember years when the big kids were younger, and I was too, that I was done with Christmas long before Gaudete Sunday. I would start shopping in January for the next Christmas \u2013 catching the perfect gifts on sale and packing them away until sometime in November when I\u2019d lay them out and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1979,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-133","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n
<\/span>\u2026.and somewhere in all of that perfection, Christmas got lost.\u00a0The holiday was still there \u2013 tinsel, dresses, parties, presents, dinner, cookies, Santa Claus \u2013 but Christmas was missing.<\/span>
<\/span>I spent the morning looking through the pictures of those long ago celebrations \u2013 everything was so beautiful. There\u2019s a part of me that wishes I had half the energy for planning and preparations that I used to have. I wish that my younger children could experience that same magical experience\u2026<\/span>
<\/span>but then they wouldn\u2019t have the same miraculous one.<\/span>
<\/span>Because while I\u2019m not organized at all these days \u2013 my former self would be horrified to see \u00a0what I now consider \u201cdecorated\u201d to mean, and I\u2019ve spent the past 48 hours doing all the gift shopping (and I do mean all\u2026not a single thing had been purchased), but we\u2019ve spent the time preparing not for the celebration as much as the Feast Day.<\/span>
<\/span>Instead of putting up a tree in November, we learned about lighting the Advent wreath. Instead of polishing the house from top to bottom, we took the kids to Confession\u2026.and even went ourselves\u2026.polishing up our souls instead. We baked cookies that the kids decorated by themselves (good golly but they were ugly) an took them to the nursing home down the street. Those grandparents were thrilled with our imperfect cookies, and even happier to spend the afternoon playing games and coloring with my little guys. We prayed for the people we sent cards to instead of sweating over how imperfect those cards might havebeen. I \u00a0realized today that we had swapped the things that looked pretty on paper with things that are better.<\/span>
<\/span>Sitting here flipping through these pictures, I realize that I used to be better at making Christmas pretty, and now I\u2019m better at making it real.<\/span>
<\/span>
<\/span>(There are amazing people in this world who can do both. I\u2019m not one of them. If you are, can you share your secrets?)<\/span><\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"