Hold on Tight by Bea Tifton

 

Hold on tight. Christmas is almost here and it’s that time of the year when life is a whirlwind of planning and anticipation.

Each year, I intend to tap into my inner Martha Stewart and do Christmas right. The trouble is, I don’t have an inner Martha Stewart. One year when I was working for a boss who loved crafts, our Christmas party was actually a crafts night. She had three workspaces set up and we were supposed to rotate through until we had made three crafts. After each attempt, the other people at the table said, “That’s er...nice.” Good thing there were cookies and sodas there or I wouldn’t have gotten anything out of it at all. I certainly couldn’t give the crafts as gifts.

I tell myself I’m going to make a gingerbread house. I’ve never baked gingerbread. And those premade kits just seem too much like cheating. I think mine would look like a tornado had swept through the gingerbread village. I would also love to make a Yule log for my parents. Someone on the cooking channel made it look so easy. She even had meringue mushrooms.  I thought, “I could do that!” but I’ve never been brave enough to try it.

I do decorate a Christmas tree. And my ornaments aren’t placed just right for symmetry. I don’t have a theme each year. I use ornaments I inherited from my Mamaw and things I’ve just picked up through the years. There just doesn’t seem to be enough time for it all.  And I don’t have lovely decorations worthy of Southern Living’s magazine cover anywhere in my house. Just random funky things I’ve bought because I liked them.

Luckily, even with all my, “I should do this or that this year” thoughts, Christmas still comes each year, right on schedule, and it’s good even without linen napkins and amazing decorations.  Christmas isn’t about to do lists or unrealistic goals, meeting other people’s expectations, blowing your budget on expensive gifts,  or who has the nicest lawn display. It’s about spending time with family and friends, people who love you and don’t care if you made a Buche de Noel or a gingerbread house. They love what you got them because you picked it out just for them and wrapped it with love. 

Love. That’s Christmas. And I hope everyone reading this has a love-filled Christmas and a new year filled with extraordinary moments and magical days.

Photos from Pixels

Crafts-Cottonbro

Gingerbread Houses- Lina Kivaka

Man Hugging Daughter- Cottonbro

People with Sparklers-Nicole Michalou

Merry Christmas- Olya Kobruseva