Somehow between constantly nursing the newborn and talking the toddler down from yet another
tantrum, I’ve managed to get Christmas accomplished, although not to my usual
standards.
The Christmas
decorations are up, but…
Last year, the Pinterest
bug bit me hard, and Hubs came home from a business trip to find Christmas had exploded up in here. Everything looked beautiful and festive.
This year, I just don’t have time to create anything new or pay attention to
the little details. The letters on the table near the entryway are supposed to spell
“Joy,” but the “J” keeps falling down and it just says “Oy.” I didn’t have this
problem last year! How did it stay up? I don’t have time to come up with a permanent
solution for the fallen “J,” so whenever I see it laying lifeless on the table
I just prop it up again, knowing it’s just going to fall back down.
It’s actually quite fitting that my table says “Oy.” I must
utter that expression a dozen times a day. Whenever I get Reid to stop crying
or Quinn to stop screaming, or get the kitchen cleaned or the laundry folded –
basically whenever I can finally exhale – I breathe out an exhausted “Oy” and
shake my hair out of my face. This year, my “Oy” table reflects survival, not
perfection. And honestly, I’m okay with that.
 |
| Last year's perfection... ...This year's reality |
The Christmas tree is
up, but…
Usually, I take great care to make sure the ornaments are
spaced out evenly on the tree, that there are no big gaps, that there aren’t
two red bulbs right next to each other, and that all of the special ornaments
are prominently displayed. This year, I didn’t pay attention to any of those nit-picky
things. We just put the ornaments anywhere. Quinn helped decorate the tree, so
many of the ornaments are clustered at the bottom. This year, our tree may not
reflect something on Pinterest, but it does reflect the excitement of a
two-year old who can’t believe there is a huge, pretty tree in our house! And that makes me smile.
The presents are wrapped,
but…
You know how much I LOVE wrapping presents, right? It’s like my most favorite thing EVER!
I love matching the paper, bows and tags. I love curling the ribbons and making
each package sparkle with Christmas anticipation.
But this year, I didn’t have time to go all
out with the wrapping. It’s
amazing enough that I was able to come up with gifts for everyone, buy them,
wrap them at all, and throw on some bows and tags that may or may not match.
Sadly, there isn’t a single ribbon anywhere. But the amount of curling ribbon on
the gifts is not a reflection of how much I love the gifts’ recipients. The excitement
on their faces will be the same when they open their gifts, and the sparkle of
Christmas anticipation will be in their eyes, not in the wrapping.
The Christmas cards
are done, but…
My family’s Christmas card is usually one of the first cards people receive in the mail. This year, it took a bit more effort to get a
decent photo of both boys, design the card, etc. They just arrived from the
printer today, and my goal is to get in them in the mail tomorrow. So they
should arrive in our loved ones’ mail boxes just before Christmas. Whew! Our
Christmas card this year will not reflect the promptness of a mom who is
totally on top of things, but it will reflect the adoration of a new big
brother for “his baby,” the snuggly, heart-melting sweetness of a newborn, and the
love of a growing, happy family.
So Christmas might be a little thrown together this year,
but that’s okay. Christmas isn’t about Pinterest-worthy perfection, and I’m
tired of viewing it as something that needs to be accomplished. So even if I
don’t get all the cookies baked this weekend, even if the cards arrive closer
to New Years, even if the tag on the present doesn’t match the wrapping paper,
Christmas will be amazing. How can it not be? It’s my little Baby Dragon’s first Christmas.
It’s the first Christmas Quinn
has started to grasp the concept of Santa Claus. Christmas music will play all
day. Our little family will have the whole day to enjoy each other. And that’s
sounds pretty damn perfect to me.
Oy to the world, everyone!
