Making Memories, Not Magic

Every year I feel the temptation to create a MAGICAL Christmas for my family. My inner-Pinterest mom rears its ugly, perfectionistic head and I transform into Clark Griswold. However; the past few years I’ve intentionally chosen to make them MEMORABLE, prioritizing what’s important and setting aside what isn’t. This particular festive season, I would swing from feeling the urge to go overboard to somehow compensate for this pandemic to feeling deflated because of the necessary cancellations. Sensing this tension, I opted to find the middle ground. As the lyrics to the Christmas hymn ‘Oh Holy Night’ go, “The weary world rejoices.” I took those words to heart and committed to truly enjoy the holidays with my family [in responsible pandemic fashion] without getting burned-out. I never did get around to making orange slice garlands, the advent calendar was pulled out two weeks late [what a great first pay-day that was!] and neglected to string our rooftop with multicolour lights- in fact, no one even mentioned it! However; I cooked a delicious Christmas Eve dinner, read the Christmas Story, baked our annual “Happy-Birthday-Jesus-Cinnamon-Buns” for Christmas morning breakfast and exchanged thoughtful presents wrapped in last year’s leftover gift wrap. We certainly missed visiting extended family, annual Christmas parties, school and church concerts and other traditions, but I will never forgot this simple and memorable time with my crew where we celebrated the reason for the season, Christ Jesus our Lord.

From my family to yours, Merry Christmas! 🎄

P.S. I am so sorry I didn’t send out Christmas cards. Let’s just chalk that up to another 2020 fail. 😜