Tonight, I’m curled up on the couch in my family room, glass of wine at one hand and new books at the other. The fire is blazing across the room and the lights on the tree are shining bright. The Christmas season is almost done for another year.
Something was different about the festive season this year. I can’t remember the last time I was so impatient for it to begin! Just a few days ago, I waited, impatient as a small child. The presents were wrapped, many with what I hoped were witty clues to their contents attached. The Christmas baking was done (and done a second time, after my bottomless pit of a son came home from university), Christmas concerts were sung and I even managed to find that miraculous short space of time to relax and take an hour or two for myself before the happy chaos of Christmas Eve began.
I love this season, and this year, although I’m not sure why, I loved it from start to finish even more than usual.
With a son whose birthday falls in mid-November, it’s always been a funny family rule that we don’t even start talking about Christmas until November 17. When the kids were little and shopping centres started piping in music as early as Hallowe’en, it seemed, it wasn’t unusual for a little one to pipe up from the stroller that the store was being bad because it wasn’t even their brother’s birthday yet.
As much as I love Christmas, we don’t put up any lights or decorations until December 1. I guess I’m always afraid I’ll be “Christmassed out” by the time the big day rolls around. They malls may have their muzak out well before then, but my CDs – or these days, my iPod playlist – aren’t supposed to come out until at least that day.
But this year, I couldn’t resist. While my daughter and I were in the kitchen making sweet treats two days before my son’s big day, we turned on one of her childhood favourites – Arthur’s Perfect Christmas. Spatulas in hand, we danced around the kitchen to the familiar songs and laughed at the corny jokes.
And that was it. The dam broke and it was Christmas music every day after that. We did leave the decorations until December 1, but it was tough. I got much of my gift-buying done early as well at a huge local artisan show, so I was really excited about some of the unique gifts under the tree for my loved ones.
The mood seemed to be contagious. My daughter was giddy with the excitement of having a big secret for me under the tree. I was tickled pink to have been asked to help pick out one of my son’s gifts for his girlfriend (Mum still comes in handy sometimes!). And my other son, still at university studying for exams, sent multiple texts for advice in choosing gifts for the family.
I’ve watched an outrageous number of not-so-great Christmas movies this season, and I’ve unabashedly loved each one. Even the annual throngs at the malls didn’t turn me off as they usually do. Instead, I watched one afternoon, with an amused smile, as a gaggle of school-uniformed teenaged girls had their photo taken with Santa.
It’s possible I may have shed a tear or two at one of my daughter’s many concerts in the past few weeks – it always amazes me that my little girl is up there helping make that joyous noise. At 14, she’s hardly my little girl now, and she’s become one of the girls the new little girls want to be one day.
Christmas Eve was a joyful chaos of visiting family and church carol singing, including a quartet that evening that included my daughter and I, that we had kept as a surprise for my Mum. What usually stresses me out went as smooth as silk this year. Christmas Day itself was a wonder of family, thoughtful gift opening and a sense of peace. The only thing that would have made it better is a little sprinkling of the white stuff.
My parents’ annual Boxing Day “let’s help Kath around the house” blitz ended with a sparkly chandelier hung (a little bling just for me), a powder room vanity and light fixture replaced and a fancy lazy susan for my deepest kitchen cupboard. It was quite a productive day!
At our house, it’s now time to settle into the few lazy days between now and New Year’s Eve. As I pick up my wine glass and crack the spine of the first book, let me wish you the same kind of joy and peace that I have felt – one that is filled with friends and family. May you revel in the memories of days just passed and make new ones to look back at in years to come.
