I’m not sure why but I’ve just had a really hard time getting into the Christmas spirit this year. It could be that we traded our Thanksgiving weekend tradition of tree hunting, carol blasting, me grumbling Jesse needs to put more lights on the tree for a family vacation and a pre-lit artificial tree. It could be that we have no snow and green grass. It could be that I’m just feeling a little grinch-y this year.
Whatever the reason, our tree has been sitting in our front room undecorated for about three weeks. I’d flip the lights on every morning and flip them off at night before bed, but other than that and the garlands we hung the week before Thanksgiving – our house has been pretty devoid of decorations and I haven’t felt any pressing need to change that.
Until my children came to me this morning with their hearts set on decorating and being I’m not the grinch-iest of grinches or the scrooge-iest of scrooges, I cranked the carols and agreed. We put out our nativities. We hung ornaments and stockings. I put out the ceramic tree (like this one) my mom gifted me when I was feeling nostalgic for the one she had made (and lost in one of their plethora of moves) and started to feel the smallest twinge of anticipation.
I’m looking forward to the happy chaos of my family (and three dogs) descending on my parents’ little house followed by Jesse’s family annual Christmas Eve bash. I’m excited to dress up and attend a Christmas Mass with my children and husband and remember what it is exactly we are celebrating. I’m still not brimming with Christmas cheer, but I am feeling a lot less humbug.
I guess it’s really hard to feel blah about Christmas when your kids are decidedly un-blah about Christmas. Particularly when you ask them what they want and you get answers like “a robot that does all my chores” (Abram) or “a magic wand that helps me memorize my spelling words” (Violet). I’m so grateful for their creativity.
And their contagious joy. I just finished their shopping and there will not be spelling word memorizing magic wands or robots that pick up toys and put away laundry under the tree, but I’m pretty sure they’ll be happy. And that makes me happy. And a lot more happy about this Christmas season than I was at the beginning of the day.
Somehow I missed this post last week, but just wanted to say: I hear ya. I wish my kids were still small and excited about Christmas. My teens have no Christmas sparkle, which makes it hard for me to have any. But we do have the tree up, and I've put out a few favorite decorations, and I'm enjoying the extra lights in these dark days. Hope you have a wonderful Christmas.
Thank you! Wishing you one as well! I do find it a little ironic that we are supposed to be joyful and jolly when the days are the shortest and coldest.