A Few Days of Pandemonium?

Christmas is only 2 days away now and many people will be freaking out, trying to get last minute shopping done, prepping food for the Christmas dinner, baking the last few rounds of cookies, and trying to instill a sense of calm in their children (Ha).  Today, especially considering the fact that it is Friday as well as the day before Christmas eve, I will not be traveling very far from my home.  The roads are sure to be packed with over-caffeinated, over-worked, stressed out people trying to finish everything up.  I remember a few years back, upon coming home from work, a trip that should have taken an hour took at least 2 and a half.  Since then, I never work far from home before Christmas, its just not work it.  Yet people every year, place themselves in these predicaments where they work longer hours to make a few extra bucks to afford all the presents they buy for family.  And let us not forget that the house needs to be perfectly clean and spotless before it gets torn asunder by the tornado of family and friends traipsing through over just a few days.  Where do our priorities lie?  Do they lie in the preparations for Christmas, or do they lie in preparing ourselves for Christmas?  There is a big difference between the two and in my mind makes all the difference when approaching this wonderful holiday.  Personally, I think it would be well worth the effort to set aside preparations for Christmas so that we can better prepare ourselves for the holiday.

We often spend so much time getting all the details ironed out about our plans that we forget to iron out the most important detail, ourselves.  If we enter into this holiday freaked out, stressed out, and exhausted, then we will leave this holiday even worse for the wear.  Some magical genie is not going to come out of the woodwork on Christmas eve and wave a wand over our sleeping heads to make all our stress and anxiety go away.  We must tackle it on our own, and try and settle ourselves down.  There is nothing worse than gathering with family that is stressed out and tired.   Other's stress and exhaustion have a way of wearing off on others that puts a damper on any holiday gathering.  Maybe we would do a little better if we didn't have to make sure that everything is perfect for the big day, but trust in the fact that everyone will enjoy themselves regardless of how things turn out.  If you have family that you love that you will spend time with on Christmas, it shouldn't matter if everything is not perfect.  But, alas, life is not often what we expect it to be.  People often times carry too many expectations with them on how this one  day will turn out that they leave dis-satisfied.  As hard as it is, we should enter into any holiday gathering with the expectation that we will spend time with family; nothing more, nothing less.  Throw aside any expectations of presents, of excellent food, of perfectly clean spaces, of perfectly happy family. 

Nothing is perfect.  Not the amount of presents.  Not our family.  Not our dinner.  Everyone and everything has flaws and just because it is Christmas doesn't mean these flaws go away.  No matter how hard we may try to hide these flaws, some will never go away and most likely will show themselves over the next few days.  Christmas is trumped up to be this fantastic day that is perfect.  While the day is fantastic, how often to we find that it is not perfect?  How often do we find ourselves driving home at the end of it wishing for a different outcome?  Maybe we should try taking the next few days to center ourselves and rid ourselves of any preconceived notions of Christmas day and how it will turn out.  Its not easy, I will have trouble doing it myself.  But I find the more I move away from the commercialized Christmas and center myself around family and friends, the easier it is to enter it with only the expectation that I will get to spend time with family and friends.  I don't know how my Christmas will turn out, and frankly I don't care.  I didn't ask for anything for Christmas because I don't need anything.  Any present I receive will be a complete surprise and all the more welcome because I wasn't expecting it.  I don't expect everyone to get me something for Christmas.  All I need is to be surrounded by family to be happy.  Try it this year, try settling yourself a little before the holiday.  If you have last minute presents to get, screw it, they are not worth it if they haven't been bought yet.  If you have a few more things to clean, don't.  If you have a few more dishes to prep for dinner, let them slide.  Just enjoy the time you have, the time spent with family, and the time away from work before we get thrust back into it next week.