Oh, I love this time of year. It truly is my favorite. The decorations, the lights, the smells, the food and treats, hustle and bustle, the feel. The cold weather. Sitting by the fire drinking hot cocoa. Family. Friends. I am truly thankful.
We have had good family time, just us. And all our family ... it's been nice. And good quality time with friends. Good friends. Friends that I truly value ....
We decorated our tree as we do every year. Our own family tradition. The same tree lot ..... the one with pre-drilled holes in the trees that simply slip onto the stands that they sell. We bought one many years ago, and now, that's where we go every year. We let the kiddos choose the tree and when we get home, simply place it on the stand.
Once the tree is settled, we spend an evening decorating. We turn on "Charlie Brown Christmas" and put on our ornaments. Each year the children each pick out a new one (and someday will each have a collection from their childhood),. They get to look at those, laugh, tell the story behind why they picked those, and hang those. It's sweet. It's funny. It's them.
And we have many homemade ornaments. Usually the kiddos making decorations at school. But we truly let the tree be them, who they are and how they want it to look.
Many of our gifts have been homemade this year. Pie and I got together with a dear friend and her daughter to make bath salts. Not only a beautiful gift to give, but a blessing of an afternoon with friends.
Pie's heart is in art work. With her canvases and paint, she was set. She thought of each set of grandparents (there are three), and painted her heart out. Bub recorded a set of songs, his guitar playing and singing. And I put together photo books of our family from the past year. Perfect for the grandparents in our lives. Simple ... but sweet.
Now we did did do some shopping as well. But we really tried to keep it simple and give gifts that mean something. Especially with the kiddos this year. It's more about being together, the experiences, the time, than getting stuff!
We also set out to 'do for others,' the best we could. The kiddos found a tree with names of those in need one day at the local coffee house. But this was a bit different. The names were of seniors living in a convalescent hospital. It spoke to the kiddos. They so badly wanted to do something. So Pie picked Polly and Bub chose Fred ..... they were so excited. They talked about them for days. Not only did they each pick out appropriate gifts, they each wrote a personal note. The experience truly meant something to both Pie and Bub, and I like that. Not only did Polly and Fred get blessed this Christmas, the experience also blessed the kiddos and myself .....
I do so enjoy the busyness of downtown, the decorations, the spirit of Christmas ..... yet it all pales in comparison to celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ .... the one and only reason we celebrate Christmas. Keeping that is perspective gives such peace, such joy.
Christmas isn't about the perfect tree or perfect decorations .... it us being perfectly us, in our imperfect ways .... enjoying what we have ....
.... and simply being thankful.
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