Each year, it seems as though Aunt B has just finished slicing the pumpkin pie and then before you can say, “Pass the whipped cream” Christmas comes.
Growing up, I grew tired of listening to adults harp about how “Christmas just came so fast this year” – but now I am beginning to understand. Christmas is a unique holiday in that it doesn’t take just one or two days to prepare (unless you are like my father).
The list of to-do’s this time of year far exceeds the designated lines in my planner: put up the decorations, buy the gifts, wrap the gifts, bake cookies for the neighbors, send Christmas cards, visit Santa (with my precious little niece of course) and so on.
I do not mean to sound like a Scrooge, because I love Christmas. Putting up the tree on Thanksgiving put me in such high spirits, and I just can’t wait to celebrate with my family. It’s simply that I can’t believe how increasingly unprepared I am each year.
I think it is a combination of two factors: I have more responsibilities now than putting cookies and milk out for Santa (and a carrot for Rudolph, of course) and my procrastination skills have been heightened while in college. It doesn’t help that I take on more than I can handle.
I can never just pick up a Target gift card and call it good. I like my gifts to be meaningful, either handmade, personalized or at least have a lot of thought put into them. I am not satisfied with just gingerbread boys. I also have to make frosted sugar snowflakes, peanut brittle, snickerdoodle stars, fudge, peppermint bark, chocolate covered cherries, no bake cookies, white chocolate pretzels and the standard, chocolate chip. Hungry yet?
I am overflowing with festivity, and I just get so excited in anticipation for the holiday that I can’t seem to stop.
I don’t think I am alone. I see my kind, outfitted in red and green and glitter on the sidewalk, checking off their gift list in downtown Lawrence, filling their carts with every baking product in the grocery store and blaring holiday tunes at the stoplights.
I love all the decorations, the shopping, the music and the baking. But just when even I begin to grow tired of decking the halls, the whole reason I get so anxious for the season arrives. There is something very magical about Christmas Eve. All the stress related to the day stops, and I get to relax and enjoy my wonderful family.
A wonderful meal, wonderful conversation, wonderful gifts and wonderful moments, I am reminded why I love this holiday so much. We head to church and join other contented families in celebrating the holiday. Each year the service is more or less the same, and each year my mother cries at the end of “Silent Night.”
I'm not intending to get all sappy, but it truly is hard to contain how much I love love LOVE Christmas. Even if it "just came so fast this year" and my to-do list seems to be unending, it's worth all the work and all the stress. Try to remember that when you are waiting in line for two hours to get your brother's Wii or your sister's Brat doll on sale. <br/>&#160;&#160;&#160;