Day 60 - Wrap Star

Every year, I have a Utopian vision of Christmas Eve. Perhaps you have a similar one? It begins with a full night of wonderful sleep (wait - I have to catch my breath from laughing so hard), a delicious homemade breakfast whipped up from scratch, and a rousing rendition of "Welcome Christmas" (you know, the song the Whos sing in "How The Grinch Stole Christmas"?). We would get out the door and on the road to Oma and Opa's house on time, carolling all the way, and arrive for Christmas dinner bearing the fruits of my many hours toiling in the kitchen. After a festive dinner and a Very Meaningful Christmas Church Service, we would drink eggnog and hot chocolate as we helped Santa fill stockings and put presents under the tree. My little angel falls asleep as soon as I lay him in his manger crib and we all slumber peacefully until 6:00 10:30 the next morning when Sebastian wakes us with laughter and babbles that sound suspiciously like "I love you Mommy and Daddy! Thank you so much for clothing me and feeding me and diapering me and..." (you get the picture).

OK... Here's what really happens.

We wake up too early after going to bed too late. I put a piece of bread in the toaster, nuke the remainder of yesterday's coffee, and call it breakfast. Sebastian forages for crumbs in his highchair (not really, don't call CPS), and Marty eats a Pop Tart left over from his last tour. I catch myself singing Lady Gaga instead of Christmas carols, and we all get out the door two hours late. I am empty handed because I forgot to turn on the crockpot, but don't worry - we'll stop by the deli on the way and pick up a cheese platter. We spend the drive listening to the traffic report, trying to avoid the four+ hour delays on the Grand Central. We get to the deli, they're all out of cheese platters, so we buy Cheese Doodles and hope nobody notices. I skip church because Sebastian has eaten something that clearly disagrees with him and is making rude noises nearly non-stop. When everyone returns and we are putting presents under the tree, I realize I have forgotten to label any of my gifts. I tell people to just pick one and we'll sort it out later (this proves to be HILARIOUS the next morning when my father-in-law opens the king sized bottle of Jean Nate' I got for my cousin and pretends to be delighted). Sebastian wakes up nearly every hour on the hour, until at 5:30 I get up. Diaper blowout. The end.

OK, maybe that's not exactly what happened, but I did find myself mulling over the expectations I have about Christmas, and wondering if perhaps I'm missing the Bigger Picture. First and foremost, Christmas is a Christian religious holiday to celebrate the birth of Jesus - the Christ Mass, if you will. Over many years, a number of secular traditions crept in and transformed it into the season we know today (consult Wikipedia for a long and profoundly boring explanation of this). Somewhere along the line, between the tinsel and the gingerbread, our expectations of this time of year grew to Epic Proportions and we lost our collective minds. So, I'm aiming to find mine.

In the spirit of Cultivating my Eccentricities, I decided to make a few changes this year:

1 - I made the majority of my gifts instead of buying them Christmas Eve
2 - I wrapped all my gifts in pages pulled from old magazines and Trader Joe's grocery bags (turn them inside out and have the kids decorate them - it's actually really cool)
3 - I stopped trying to staple my halo to my head and decided to just be myself, warts and all (yes, even at my husband's Fabulously Functional Family Gathering)

And most importantly: People celebrate this time of year for many reasons and in many ways, but for me as a Christian, Jesus is the Reason for the Season. It's easy (a little too easy) for me to put the religious significance on the back burner (perhaps why so many countries separate the gift giving from the religious holiday?), but I'm going to do my best to put everything in it's proper perspective.

Merry Christmas to those of you who celebrate it, and Happy Holidays to the rest! Warmest wishes for a season ripe with significance, family, and love. Gather lots of good stories and make lots of memories. And eat cookies.