I am so excited to welcome a new contributor here at Kiki and Company. Over the next few months, you will be seeing a whole new Kiki and Company (I’m sure you can tell that I am in the middle of a redesign right now). For years, I have received feedback that people love some of my more personal posts and want more of it, so in an effort to round out the subjects a bit, I am pulling in some amazing contributors to bring in posts you will love, love, love! Don’t you worry, we will still have a lot of printables, projects, and tutorials, but hope you will love some of the updates as well!
Never ask my advice on two topics. Potty training, or how to be calm, prepared and perfect at Christmas. If there were a holiday movie made about my life, it would probably be titled A Crazy Lady Christmas. And you’d probably get up and leave the theater half way through because it would make you that anxious and irritated.
Yes, Christmas brings out the crazy in me.
I know Christmas comes at the same time every year, yet its arrival seems to surprise me every time. I’ll be driving along and then some radio commercial will come on saying something like, “Only 35 more days until Christmas!” And then I’ll promptly pull over to the side of the road and begin to hyperventilate.
I know people who use Christmas planners and organized lists. People who budget a year in advance. People who know how to cook turkeys without directions and never run out of Scotch tape. I even know someone that buys her gifts a YEAR in advance.
I’m not one of those people.
I’ve shopped at Kmart on Christmas Eve. I’ve cried while getting dressed for a Christmas party. Explanation: I was pregnant and at the last minute realized I had nothing presentable to sausage my body into, so I tied myself into slacks with curling ribbon. And I’ve never once rented a team of Clydesdales to have my family photographed in a sleigh while wearing coordinating hand- knitted berets.
It seems like every year I berate myself for not being awesome at Christmas. Like if I was a little more organized or a little more this or a little more like her…Christmas could be perfect! I sometimes wonder if I’m ruining the true spirit of Christmas with my tinseled tornado of things I have to get done. Am I overdoing it? Am I ruining my children? Women are good at finding things to feel guilty about, aren’t we?
But this year I’ve had an epiphany. I’m not going to feel guilty for my Christmas blitz. You know why? Because I’m helping to create some of the most treasured moments my family will always remember. That’s why. That’s worth a little craziness.
Because let’s face it, ladies. Christmas is a LOT of work. Food needs to feel special with pancakes suddenly sprouting bacon antlers and cherry noses. Living rooms have to undergo a near sterile overhaul cleaning before one decoration can go up, (or is that just me?) Dozens of gifts have to be thoughtfully purchased and wrapped. Dogs have to be groomed from unrecognizable crusty hairballs to something doggish that can be allowed to prance around family I don’t usually see. And a GO-Zillion other things.
It’s a lot. But I can’t think of a single thing more special to bust my hump over. It’s pretty great to be a part of creating an experience my kids look forward to all year long. An experience so extraordinary that it keeps them up all night on Christmas Eve.
All of this work, be it clumsily executed, is my gift. It’s my offering.
I’m going to stop the negative self-speak. I’m going to stop viewing my methods as less than. Sure, I could be a little better prepared, but it doesn’t take away from my offering. If all of this effort and commotion were wrapped up in a box for my family to open, you know what they’d see when they lifted the lid?
Love.
Which was exactly what I wanted to give them anyway.
The point is, give yourself a break! The feats you pull off every December are nothing short of magic. And your family will always remember these times with warmth and wonder.
So have yourself a crazy little Christmas.
