The perfect Christmas.
Is there such a thing?
The world tells is there is, and it also says we should do everything in our power to achieve one.
I used to believe it existed, and I was the one responsible for creating it for our family. Talk about pressure!
Maybe I compared our Christmas to others’ Christmases and ours always fell short. There weren’t as many gifts under our tree, my cookies weren’t as pretty, and my house was never as elaborately decorated as others’.
Maybe I thought the more I did, the more perfect it would be. So, I would strive and strive and the result? I ended up exhausted. And, possibly I had unrealistic expectations of what Christmas was and should be.
Christmases as a child were simple, yet they were always filled with wonder and awe. Mom and Dad didn’t have a ton of money, but they made Christmas special each year. The memories of those by-gone holidays bless me. I wonder why I thought as an adult Christmas needed to be any different?
Christmas doesn’t have to be perfect to be memorable. In fact, the ones we tend to remember the most are those that were imperfect.
An imperfect Christmas is a memorable Christmas.
I remember in 2nd Grade coming home from school the week of Christmas with Chicken Pox. I passed it on to my brothers and we were all sick on Christmas. As you can imagine, that wasn’t such a perfect Christmas, but it’s one that stands out in my mind yet today.
I also remember the year my brother and I found our Christmas gifts hidden in our family’s basement. We didn’t stumble up on them, no. We were actively looking for them. Christmas morning wasn’t the same that year as we knew what was inside those beautifully wrapped red and green packages. No perfect Christmas existed that year either, yet it’s one I certainly haven’t forgotten.
And, I recall just a handful of years ago when I dumped over our Christmas tree. The sound of it crashing to the floor is a sound I had never heard before, nor have I heard since. It was awful. Tears followed. I just knew I had broke our artificial tree, not to mention some precious ornaments. But, we picked up the tree, set it back in its stand, threw away the broken ornaments, and no one but us four knew any different. Somehow that memorable event continues to get mentioned each year, but now with laughter and smiles.
Friend, how about you? What are some of the most memorable Christmases you’ve experienced? When you think back, which Christmas has a funny or crazy experience attached to it that you still remember vividly today?
An imperfect Christmas is sometimes the best Christmas.
I’d love to read about your most memorable imperfect Christmas. I invite you to share below, or at least answer it for yourself privately.
Maybe it’s time to look at all of this a little differently. Maybe in reality, the perfect Christmas is the one in which we remember the most years later… in all its imperfectness.
Let’s look at Christmas with fresh eyes this season. Let’s embrace the imperfect, and rejoice in the simple. May we smile at what appears to “ruin” Christmas, and stop comparing and striving and doing more than we need to do. May this realization this season guide us a little closer in rediscovering the wonder of Christmas.
Join me in embracing an imperfect Christmas this year.
The heart of Christmas isn’t about all this stuff anyway, is it? Really, Christmas itself is already perfect no matter what we do or don’t do. We’ll talk about this tomorrow.
Thanks for hanging out with me here. See you tomorrow!
Blessings,
Julie
This post is modified from its original form in last year’s series Rediscovering Christmas. Linking up today with Jennifer and Holley.
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I got the chicken pox in 7th grade around Halloween. I remember because we planned a carnival and I missed out on it all.
Yes, I imagine that’s one that sticks out in your mind each year. Those imperfect times create lots of memories. Thanks for sharing this, friend!
I’d just like to get to Christmas. It’s enough for me.
Mike Townsley cam by last week to pick up an aeroplane restoration project…what a wonderful chap he is!
Hi Andrew! I’d like you to get to Christmas too! I couldn’t believe how we have a common friend in Mike! Yes, he is a wonderful chap. Glad he’s in both of our lives!
Last Christmas was definitely imperfect. But we’ll never forget it. I had planned some special things for Christmas Day at our family gathering in our home. But those things never took place. Instead, we had our Christmas celebration at the rehab center where my father-in-law was a patient. We took all our presents and food and “festivities” to the cold, sterile dining hall and filled it with the warmth of the whole family being together. It was our grandson’s first Christmas. And my father-in-law’s last. It was strange. Yet it was sweet. And sitting on my bookshelf this Christmas is a forever reminder of that special Christmas–a photo taken that night. The background isn’t glistening lights and the comforts of home, but a bare drab wall. Our positioning is lopsided and awkward. A quick photo taken by a sweet nurse who hadn’t the time to get it “just right.” An imperfect photo of an imperfect Christmas. One that will be cherished forever…on our shelf and in our hearts.
This is lovely Sabra.
Sabra, this memory and story is precious. How an imperfect Christmas captured so much for you and your family. How special that photo must be. It’s in those memories where God reminds us what Christmas is really all about. Thank you for blessing us with this, friend. Merry Christmas!
When I was 5 I had the flu. All I could have was 7-Up (which I still can’t drink, 57 years later!). But I got a doll with a crib and a rocking chair and a bathinette I could fill with water. I played with that doll for many years. I still have her and she brings so many happy memories.
Oh, Debbie, this story warms my heart. I can see why it’s one you haven’t forgotten through the years. How precious. Thanks for sharing it here! Merry Christmas, friend!
One Christmas Eve “Santa” was putting together a Barbie Dream House and he thought he needed to get rid of the evidence of the cardboard box it came in. So in our wisdom we decided to burn it in our fireplace. Within minutes the room filled with smoke and the fire alarm began blaring! I’ll never forget both of us furiously fanning below the alarm to get it to turn off before the kids woke up and caught us in that fiasco! Thankfully they were both sound sleepers! Needless to say we were exhausted! It is one of our fondest parent/Christmas stories.
Cindy, I love this story! Oh my goodness. I can only imagine the craziness of the moment when the fire alarm went off! Thank you for sharing it here. I imagine it is one you’ll never forget. Bless you, friend!