Will It Be The Perfect Christmas?

My childhood memories of Christmas include baking cookies, decorating the tree, making ornaments, visiting with friends and family, big dinners, homemade tortellini, hot cocoa and cinnamon rolls or homemade donuts on Christmas morning. Every year I would look forward to unwrap the carefully packaged ornaments to rediscover each and every one. Those familiar objects brought back memories of past Christmases. Each one being linked to a person, meaning or moment. Setting up the nativity was also a big part of my childhood Christmas. I always had more fun watching people open the presents I gave them than opening my own gifts.

We are preparing to move soon, so packing has begun. While I am good at organizing, David has to do all the heavy lifting due to my pregnant state. We debated not putting up a tree this year since we will be moving shortly after Christmas and after our son is born. But these things times are not the times to be practical. It is the little family traditions and memories that enrich our family and our daughter's life.

Ours will not be the Pinterest Perfect Christmas, but it will be full of tradition and familiarity. We will make ornaments and decorate our tree. We will rejoice for the birth of our Lord and Savior and these beautiful, familiar things will enrich and enhance the memory of our celebration for years to come. Taking the time to do so is a form of worship. Some argue that the Christmas tree originates from pagan traditions, but I would argue that in my life and in my family it has always been a way to honor our own traditions and our own Faith. It is my belief that rituals and traditions are all about intent. "As for me and my house, we serve the Lord."

We have so very few traditions any more. We will savor the ones we have and try to make new ones. Making the most out of each time and situation. Is every Christmas perfect? Yes. It is what you make of it, not because of how much money you spend or whether you get to see everyone you intend to or make the number of batches of cookies that you think you should (or whether they all turn out as they should).

This year, as in the year I was pregnant with Blueberry, there has been some illness in the family that would threaten my health at a very vulnerable time. It saddens me to disappoint people by staying away from those sick and exposed, but my hope is that they understand the situation and forgive the inevitability of my absence from their holidays. As for my little family, we will make the most of this time. We hope that others will not let this ruin relationships (or their own holidays) so we can enjoy future holidays together when everyone is healthy. Families are complicated.

So this will not be the perfect Christmas because we have to disappoint people. It WILL be the perfect Christmas because of the memories we will build and the traditions that we keep. Will yours be the perfect Christmas?