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Tuesday, January 20, 2015

Back to Christmas

"Did you have a good Christmas?"

That's a question I noticed people asked a lot in the two weeks after Christmas.  It was usually random, a little bit of small talk, but it got in my head and swirled around a bit.  What exactly makes a "good Christmas?"

Is it being with family?  A bunch of mine were sick so our Christmas was disjointed and delayed.  It seemed like everybody was sick.  Thankfully it was all temporary, nobody was really sick.

Some people might classify having a good Christmas by getting everything you wanted.  We could make this a lot easier on us all and just omit presents as far as I'm concerned.  I have a long want list and it is rather expensive.  It's the want list of a lifetime.  Christmas is more than getting stuff anyway, as we all know.

Could you qualify a good Christmas by the amount of activities or traditions that put you in the Christmas spirit?  I made a list last year before Christmas and added to it during the month of December of all the things that made me feel Christmasy.  I felt like it helped me focus on the things I really wanted/needed to do instead of try to do every thing.  On my list there are foody things like baking cookies and cinnamon rolls, drinking apple cider, hot chocolate, and eggnog; watching Elf and Christmas Vacation; seeing the choir sing and watching the children's program at church; giving to the Lottie Moon Christmas offering; and packing a shoebox in November for Operation Christmas Child.  This year a lot of things on my Christmas To Do list were unchecked.

People were sick, my first world wish list remains, and I wasn't able to do all the things that make me feel like Christmas so that sounds like I would be one who might answer "No," but I never considered the possibility of not having a good Christmas.  Life is good.  What would you consider to be a "good Christmas?"  If you didn't have a good Christmas, care to explain?

2 comments:

Unknown said...

we wore sick , still are down , but not out ..we are still here . life is good ..

Travel & Dive Girl said...

I feel people tend to set unrealistic goals for what their Christmas should "look like".

Does my house or tree look like those on magazine covers? No.

Do have time to bake dozens of cookies to handout to co-workers? No.

Are my presents perfectly wrapped with matching bows and tags? No.

Is my family like those from the Norman Rockwell paintings? No.

With all the "no" answers, you'd think I had a bad Christmas, but it was just the opposite. The tree looked nice, the presents were a disaster, I managed one batch of cookies, there was not "peace on earth" with certain family members and I received a bunch of socks for Christmas. BUT, we had a great Christmas despite everything not being how I perceived it should be in my mind.