So, I’m not a Scrooge. . . I swear! But I do have some Christmas thoughts both grumpy and cheery that I want to share.
I HATE that “the powers that be” (aka the stores) have pushed Christmas way beyond December. I love Thanksgiving and all that it means, and now it feels that it’s not it’s own holiday anymore, but more of a feast to start off Christmas. And don’t get me started on Christmas during Halloween!! So, yes. Anytime before Thanksgiving, I am a scrooge about Christmas. I don’t want to see it, don’t want to hear it. I want to enjoy the Holiday’s and all that they offer.
But once Thanksgiving is over, I’m not such a scrooge, I’m just “picky” about Christmas.
I hate Christmas shopping. It’s not the crowds, or the bustle. I really don’t mind that. It’s the stress. From the start of the holidays, I feel so stressed and anxious about buying presents. It’s like an alarm clock in my head, blaring every five minutes: Buy Presents. Buy Presents. Buy Presents. And not just presents, GREAT presents. The BEST presents. The stress almost overwhelms the real spirit of Christmas that I want to feel.
Because there are a lot of things I love about Christmas.
I love decorating my house. I love that the top of my entertainment center looks like a picture in a magazine. It’s the one place in my house that I’m really proud of; my house isn’t very decoratable. I mean, how many cute and darlings can you put on the kitchen counters before it starts looking stupid? (answer: 2)
I love putting up the Christmas tree, (even though the whole bottom section doesn’t light up. Who cares, you can’t see it from the window.) I love the way the lights glitter off the gold, and enhance the deep red against the green. I love pulling out my favorite ornaments, and remembering why I bought them. Like the star for Leah’s first Christmas, or the big, huge hand painted ball Dennis (my East coast Dad) brought be back from India, or the bears I bought with my best nanny friend, Leslee. I love the fake enthusiasm I get from Brad as he’s acts so happy to be a part of our family Christmas bonding time. I love that he covers his mouth when he nearly swears as he brings the Christmas tree up the stairs. And the big fake smile he gives me when I’m decorating the tree and singing Christmas songs, and begging him to join me. He does it, and I don’t care that he fakes enjoying it. All I care is that he’s there.
I love Christmas goodies! I love the candy, cookies, ice cream, hot chocolate and every other sweet thing that I feel morally obligated to eat. It’s Christmas, and what kind of neighbor would I be if I didn’t eat every single cookie on the plate the moment it was dropped off at my house? (My pants are screaming in protest already!)
I love Christmas lights, and I fully appreciate those who work hard (or pay someone to work hard) to put them all over their house. But you won’t find lights on my house. Neither Brad nor I care enough to deal with the big huge pain that it is to put them up. I have a glowing Christmas tree in the window. If that’s not enough for you, then don’t look at my house. Drive down the road and see my two neighbors whose self esteem is apparently dictated by having brighter, bigger, and more obnoxious decorations than the other. Honestly, they are using up so much electricity that I feel that it is my duty to keep my house dim, just to compensate. I’m not a scrooge, I’m just saving the planet.
I love spending time at family parties. I really do enjoy it. Honestly. Okay, maybe if there weren’t so many of them! Brad & I both have large families on every side. And they all live within a 15 mile radius. We have no excuse but to go to every party and get together. So we go to one, eat a ton of food, see family members and enjoy the chaos. Then we rush to another, eat a ton of food, mingle with our family members–even that crazy cousin that’s always awkward–and deal with the chaos. By the time we’ve hit our fifth party that week (or day) we have to purge just to make room for all the food, we’re avoiding those family members that we really don’t want to talk to, but we can’t because it’s so crowded, and the chaos is so much that we really just want to say Merry Freakin Christmas and go home and watch T.V. But, we love our big, loud, crazy (and sometimes awkward) families. So we go to each, push aside all the above mentioned feelings and enjoy it!
I love Christmas Music, but once again, I’m extremely picky. I refuse to listen to radio Christmas music. First off, it’s all music about, shopping, Santa and snow, and very rarely, if ever , music about the birth of our savior. And secondly, they take the same exact 27 songs and repeat them over and over. “It’s beginning to look a lot like Jingle bell, jingle bell Rocking around the Chestnuts roasting on a Grandma got run over by a Frosty the Snow Baby” AHHHH!!! Play something good!!! So, I don’t even dignify their music by turning on their stations. ( Not to mention that my radio is broken, but that’s beside the point.) I’ve compiled my favorite Christmas music and will only listen to my own chosen songs. Some of my favorites are: *O Holy Night. My all time favorite, particularly the Josh Groban or Celine Dion version *What Child is this *Breath of Heaven (the best) *Silent Night, Angels We Have Heard on High (pretty much everything in the hymn book.) *Carol of the Bells *I Wonder as I Wander (not sure if that’s the real title) *Still Still Still* There is a Rose That’s Blooming* Almost anything from my high school choir’s Christmas songs* Any thing on the Josh Groban Noel album or the SheDaisy’s Christmas album. So many good songs, and yet the radios won’t play them. What a waste.
Yes, there are so many things I love about Christmas, and so many great Christmas memories.
I think my all time favorite Christmas Season was my senior year of high school. It was the busiest, most hectic December I’ve ever had. I don’t remember what I got that year, in fact I’m not sure I even remember Christmas Day. What I loved about it was that I spent all season long singing. My Trouvers group had 5-8 performances every week. We went all over singing for parties and schools. I think all my fellow Trouvers can say that there isn’t a better feeling than spending the holidays sharing our talents and bringing in the Christmas spirit through song. I’ll always remember the songs we sang that year, and they will always have a special place in my heart.
One of my other favorite Christmases was the year that I lived in Virginia and came home for the holidays. It was the first time that I’d ever lived away from my family and I really felt the words of the song: “I’ll be home for Christmas.” It was really special to come home and be with my family, who I’d missed so much. It might also have something to do with the fact that that was the Christmas that I met Brad, fell in love with him, and knew in my heart of hearts that I was going to marry him. *Maybe*
I’m so excited about this season though. Leah is finally old enough that she’s really excited about Christmas. It’s so fun for me to teach her about Santa, and stockings and reindeer, and watch her eyes light up. I love helping her understand the Nativity story and learn about baby Jesus. Through her, the magic of Christmas is renewing in our home, and I hope I can get caught up in her wonder and excitement and it can chase away the Christmas grumpys that I *occasionally* I feel.
I hope that you all have a fantastic Christmas! Relish in the things that you love, and if there are things that bug you, its okay to say “Baa Hum Bug!” Just don’t let your little grumpys chase away all thats good and magical about Christmas.
Merry Freakin Christmas!
Tahsha
