Monday, December 19, 2011

In Quest of the Perfect Christmas

By: Poppie

There was a time when I wanted the perfect Christmas.  All the decorations would match, all the tree ornaments would glitter in a golden theme, and everything would look like it just came out of a magazine spread.  I would be the hostess that invited guests over on a moment’s notice because the atmosphere was a wonderland of  golden gorgeousness ready to show off to the world.
  I tried to implement my plan last year.  “Let’s just put up the gold ornaments,” I said to my children and husband as we started our decorating duties.  They all looked at me as if I had lost my mind.  “But mommy, what about this Popsicle star I made you in preschool?” asked my 4 year old.  “And what about my snowman marshmallow ornament I made you last year?” asked my 10 year old.  “We have to put up my red Husker ornaments,” piped up my husband.   “And it would look weird not to add the colored ornaments as well,” he added.  Begrudgingly, I let them add their favorite ornaments and watched as my wonderful golden forest was lost in a sea of homemade items and unmatched colors.  
 Then my 4 year old decided that we must have all the ornaments in family groups.  She rearranged the tree to put a bigger colored ornament by a medium and smaller ornament. She looked at me and said, “Now the daddy, mommy, and baby can all be together,” smiling and satisfied with her work.  There they were; groups of three in various colored clumps around the tree.  Later I tried to rearrange them back, but to no avail, as she noticed one of the family members had gone astray and promptly put it back.
So my Christmas was ruined.  Or so I thought.  Then, on Christmas Eve, as I (I mean Santa) put presents carefully around the tree, I really looked at my twinkling tree and smiled.  This really was the strangest tree we’ve put up to date, yet its beauty beckoned to me and I felt warm and fuzzy because of how hard my family had worked to make this tree fit into our family, well…perfectly. 
This year my children and husband looked expectantly at me wondering if I would be a Grinch in our decorating.  I smiled and immediately got out all the ornaments, not just the gold, and had the girls go to town decorating the tree.  Sure, it has bare spots with no ornaments and other spots with so many ornaments on the same branch that the limb is starting to sag.  And yes, there are homemade paper antlers at the top instead of a star, but as I stood back and watched them work, I thought, what a gorgeous tree made with such dedicated, decorative love.
In the end, I realized that beauty is in the eye of the beholder.  I will never have a magazine spread Christmas, but I will have many amazing Christmas memories created with my family and friends.  As long as my family is happy, healthy, and together, I have found the ideal Christmas after all.  My quest for perfection has ended because it was right in front of me all along.
Have fun with all your family traditions and treasure the memories.  And to all, Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays! 

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