Embracing Holiday Imperfection
Between Thanksgiving and Christmas, our family was fortunate to enjoy several happy moments that went smoothly and according to plan. But as I look back on the holiday, there were also plenty of moments of imperfection.
Bright spot: We spent Thanksgiving with my family!
But…. Our dog Sam had traveler’s diarrhea for part of the trip.
Bright spot: My oldest daughter has a December birthday, so for a combined birthday/Christmas gift, her grandparents repainted and redecorated her room!
But…. This is the mess created by all the stuff that came out of her old room to make way for the new. It stayed this way for about ten days because I didn’t have the energy to deal with it. His Highness and oldest finally tackled it.
Bright spot: Setting out on a drive around town to look at Christmas lights. Our first stop was lovely. At our second stop, the line of cars to get into the area was so incredibly long that His Highness and I bailed before even attempting it. Our third stop is our family’s favorite. Last year it looked like this:
But…. This year the light show looked like this.
Bright spot: I took my girls to the Nutcracker. Here we are enjoying lunch before the ballet:
But…. After the ballet we drove around in circles, lost for quite some time, while I scowled at the GPS and hunted for a familiar freeway in an unfamiliar town.
Bright spot: The Christmas Eve service at our church, full of beauty and gratitude and peace.
But…. When we got home I realized I’d forgotten to buy carrots to feed to the reindeer. We ended up having to use the vegetables I had on hand. Yes, those famous reindeer favorites: green onion and a sweet potato.
Then, around midnight on Christmas Eve, His Highness and I (cross-eyed from tiredness) brought out the doll house we’d purchased for our youngest. The house came in a medium sized box. But it turns out that, fully constructed, the thing’s about six feet tall. To get it from medium-ish box of pieces to complete doll house was going to take no less than 32 steps. About half an hour and a lot of head scratching later, still struggling to complete the FIRST step, we realized we’d fastened walls together incorrectly. About ten seconds after that, we decided that this would have to do on Christmas morning:
I’ve noticed that, over time, it’s not the moments that go according to plan that stick out most in my memory. I’m glad for the things that go well. Very, very glad! But in our family, it’s often the imperfect moments that I remember, and that we all laugh about for years to come.
Merry (belated) Christmas, everyone!
Did anything about your holiday go less than perfectly?
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Your daughter’s room looks great! Nice job.
Every year we take turns hosting Christmas Eve dinner and this yearit fell to my sister. She was estatic that while shopping she ran into a family friend who happened to have a 30lb turkey in hand that he wanted to give away and blessed her with it.
Christmas Eve she set the turkey to cook (her first time cooking a 30lb turkey) and went about the hustle and bustle of getting the house prepared to host. The abundance of drippings overflowed into her gas oven and set it on fire. The fire department came to the rescue. They didn’t need to spray or do much at all once the oven was turned off so the turkey was spared.
In fact the turkey didn’t burn at all and we happily dubbed it the Hebrew turkey to walk in the fire and not get burned because God was with him.
What a fabulous story! I’m laughing over the tale of your Hebrew turkey, Cynthia. Love it!
We had a very nice Christmas season. Everything went very well and as planned. Of coarse there’s always the gift wrap to throw a damper into everything . This year I’d bought everyone something from Columbia, and couldn’t find the right bags or tissue for the gifts. Wrapping gifts is always a bear !
Then on Christmas day I had the meal prepared for the set time agreed upon but my daughter called and said that they would be an hour late. Everything turned out fine except the macaroni and cheese and ham got a little dried. I sent the dried macaroni and cheese and ham slices home for my daughter and her family to crunch on.(LOL)
Happy New Year one and all
Shirley
Maybe you’ll start a new trend, Shirley! Crunchy macaroni and cheese. 🙂
We bought the kids a digital camcorder for Christmas this year. I gave them strict instructions never to film me when I was wearing pajamas or having a bad hair day. A good rule-of-thumb would be to film only from my ankles down.
Less than 5 hours later I’m sitting in the recliner in my jammies. My hair is damp and rapidly assuming the size and shape of a tumbleweed. I look across the room to see 16 and 12 y.o. sons on the couch with their new camera pointed at me. The 12 year old says in an ominous whisper, “Here we have Evil Pajama Woman in her lair.”
Oh, these stories are giving me a chuckle, especially KG’s story! Leave it to kids to come up w/ some interesting lines! My 10 yr old grandson, Isaiah, asked me after Thanksgiving when I was going to put the tree up. I pointed to a 4 ft tree on a table in the living room. He looked at it, and asked if all the presents were going to fit under it! (there’s the bottom line!) Just before black Friday, I told Isaiah that I had to go shopping for the annual Christmas gifts of socks & underwear for him & his younger brother, and, asked, did he want boxers or briefs this year? He chuckled and informed me, “Nana, we shouldn’t even be having this conversation!”
“I gave them strict instructions never to film me when I was wearing pajamas or having a bad hair day. A good rule-of-thumb would be to film only from my ankles down.” Laughing! You sound like my kind of person, K.G.!
Becky that was great!
Hmmm well I started my holiday season early when my sister and Mom surprised me with a trip as my birthday and Christmas present. I had to get stuff done early as the trip was scheduled 12/5-8
Then it was Thanksgiving and we lost power for 4 days – then I left 4 days later. So my mantra was – what gets done gets done – and this was one of my most relaxing and enjoyable Christmas I can remember
We’ve lost power a few times over the years and I can confidently say that I’ve never made it 4 days in a power-less house. Good for you! I like you ‘what gets done gets done’ mantra, Kim. I would definitely benefit from simplifying and doing less next year. I need a Christmas overachievers anonymous group.
hahaha, Becky your pictures and anecdotes are great! I hosted this year and my sweet potatoes I was baking dripped in my oven and are still smelling terrible when I use it. Gross! I never got my tree up or any other decorating done, due to unforeseen circumstances, but we didn’t sweat it. My kids are in their 20’s and just laughed about it. Our 3 cats probably wouldn’t have left a tree alone if we had put it up!
That’s the spirit, Lisa! I’m going to aspire to your ‘don’t sweat it’ philosophy about several aspects of Christmas next year. Or, at least, I’m going to try. 🙂
Christmas Eve we left early for the church service in order to eat beforehand–most restaurants were closing by 5:00. So we left home by 3:00 and were finished eating at 4:00. Then we had two hours to spend before church. It was rainy and cold. We went to the mall; it was closing at 5:00. We drove around looking at Christmas lights. Finally it was time for the service which was very lovely. Christmas Day I hosted my husband’s parents and his aunt at our home. None of them hear well so conversation is a challenge. So far, so good, but we have 2 more to go–maybe three, if we drive to Tennessee. So…..it isn’t over yet.