Is everyone engaged in the business of decorating, food preparation, gift buying, gift wrapping, etc. this holiday season? This year, I vowed to get my decorating and shopping done before December 1st and not go near a mall from December 1st to December 31st. Both vows were broken within five days. Who needs to wait until the new year to make resolutions; I'm still not able to adhere to this year's.
The decorating got delayed until the 6th and the mall, well...a visit with my sister who was taking her daughter and several of her friends to the mall, squashed that vow as well. It was a Saturday and I felt sure it would surely be mobbed. Surprisingly, it wasn't! Apparently, the economy has affected everyone's spending habits and traffic was light for a Saturday. Perhaps the anticipated first snow of the year was a deterrent...we may never know.
Was able to leave the mall with "empty hands" having curbed the urge to splurge. Rather nice feeling since much of my shopping had already been done on the internet and the rest has been manufactured in my version of Santa's Workshop. I've harkened back to a time when gifts came from one's imagination, were made with TLC and given in the truest sense of the season. I have baked batches of cookies for my neighbors, wrapped all the presents, planned an open house for after Christmas, designed and constructed most of the decorations that festoon my home and have planned every menu between December 20 through to New Year's Eve. Of course, the best laid plans can surely go awry...as they say. I'm sure there will be some glitch that arises to dislodge the delicate balance of these holiday plans. No matter; all will come right in the end. Won't it? The holidays are what you make of them.
Which brings me to the crux of this post: As I reflect this year on Christmases past, I have found that the hardest thing for me to do was to recapture the Christmas traditions of my childhood for my children. Decorating a certain way or at a certain time, holiday baking, special meals, planning Christmas Day activities, etc. somehow didn't always meet the expectations I placed on these traditions. My children are now adults and the holidays have evolved for them in such different ways than for me. So slowly I change, which allows me to let go of the past and move forward into the future and create new traditions that replace the old. I've stopped trying to duplicate those events that foster special memories. Instead, I'm concentrating on the enjoyment of the season and its true meaning and not trying [and failing] to make everything 'perfect'. Now that's a vow that can easily be kept!
May everyone share the season with those they love both near and far. Happy Holidays, all.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment