In Which I Love Christmas

This is a follow-up to the idea I groped my way toward by the end of the last post. I hope to be far more coherent this time…

I’m still working on my simplify-things-and-spend-time-with-family revolution. (Also working on a name for said revolution—feel free to help.)

As I said last time, I love my simplified (albeit by simplified by default) birthday. And simplifying my schedule has definitely paid off. I may actually NOT have an editing project going on this Christmas for the first time in…Oh, I can’t remember. (I have kids; I don’t remember anything.) And I still have yet to unload the monumental time sink known as—well, I don’t want to speak ill of any organization, so let’s just say it rhymes with Squirrel Gouts. Imagine what I can do when I regain that time!

I love Christmas, but I knew we’d have some extra fun this December (Tough Mudder and an amazing friend’s wedding), so something had to go. I decided not to make the 72 dozen cookies I usually make. Guess what happened?

So far, nothing.

Alleluia! Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia.

I really do like making the cookies. Just not this year. And That. Is. O. Kay.

Big A. has been awesome and covered most of our online gift buying this year, but today I did what will probably be my only big day of shopping. And I enjoyed every minute of it. Why? Probably because literally two-thirds of what I bought will go to the little girl whose tag we picked from the Angel Tree.

I had the most fantastic time picking mix-and-match outfits for her, making sure that the sweater we give her will go with her Christmas dress as well as her jeans and t-shirt, for example. I loved choosing a trendy toy and an imaginative toy for her. I loved going through our purchases with our kids, removing the price tags and talking about how she might react. I even loved making sure we included a gift receipt for each item, just in case something didn’t work for her.

I’m so glad that wasn’t just another thing on my to-do list this year. I enjoyed my morning. And now I plan to sit down and enjoy remembering it. I love having time to count my blessings at Christmas.