Right after Halloween, I went to Walmart to pick up a few
items, by myself (a rare occasion) and found myself walking through the
Christmas isle. I was immediately
transformed. A warm fuzzy feeling,
excitement and anticipation radiated through me as I looked at all the glitzy
ornaments and mesmerizing lights. I LOVE
Christmas! I love the smells, sights, sounds, and feelings involved in
Christmas. Growing up, Christmas was
always such a magical time for me. My
parents made it so special. We would
decorate, make cookies, have parties, give presents, get presents and, of
course, go to church. With all that
said...ONE HOLIDAY AT A TIME, PLEASE!
My Jack-O-Lanterns haven't even rotted yet! I still need to pull out my Thanksgiving
decorations. Why is Christmas pushed so
early? For me, the Christmas season
begins the week after Thanksgiving. I
can only do one main event at a time.
It used to take forever from Thanksgiving to Christmas and
now with the advertising and decorating starting so soon, it may be physically
longer--the Christmas season-- but it seems like Christmas is here before you
know it. I know, that sounds crazy, but
stick with me. I will give you a quick
glimpse into my brain's train of thought...My philosophy is that we are so used
to seeing Christmas stuff up and think, “oh, we have FORVEVER until Christmas,”
that when it actually gets here we are so desensitized to the holiday “stuff”
that it really does surprise us and we feel like it sneaks up on us. That may not be right, but that is what I am
sticking with.
One reason I loved Christmas so much as a child is it was
stress free. Now with all the stresses
involved, we forget the most important part of Christmas: Why we
celebrate. We are desensitized to the
point that we miss our focus. We are all
so worried about what to get for people, who is coming, what parties we have,
what our house looks like, what cookies we are going to make...all to impress
others. When our real focus should be
WHY we celebrate Christmas.
I put up all of the decorations this weekend (except the
tree – my live tree will be in on Monday!) But the first thing I put out, front
and center, was our Nativity scene. This
Nativity scene was Tony (my husband) Grandmother's and there are all sorts of
animals and shepherd from all sorts of sets.
It has seen lots of Christmases and it is just beautiful to have in our
house. I had the girls help me and
really wanted to emphasize the true meaning of Christmas. If you ask my kids why we celebrate
Christmas, they will tell you it’s Jesus' birthday. I hope that by teaching my children the true
meaning of Christmas, it will help ME refocus on what's truly important. I hope that by refocusing, I can again feel
the excitement and anticipation of this magical season. Just let me get through
one holiday at a time...if I start seeing Fourth of July stuff next week, I may
implode!
Bio -
Kathy is blessed to be a stay-at-home mom of three girls and
one baby (unknown gender) due in May. She has been married to her extremely
understanding and handsome husband for seven years.
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