Decorating Imperfections

Last night, we decorated our home for Christmas.

It was the most imperfect fun!

I have finally learned to let go of the control of family traditions. By sheer definition, I thought that traditions had to be the same every year. The tree has to go a certain way. The wreath goes in a certain spot. Specific music plays. There is an order and a method to decorating for Christmas. I tried to hard to make these family traditions perfect in the past, and only succeeded in making my family dread my traditions. My expectations were unrealistic. I was trying to create the storefront image. But, what I really wanted was the merry, jovial family.

Happy families do not live in a store front. Lifeless mannequins live there.

Over the past few years, I have been slowly letting go of my expectations. Initially, I was grumpy about it. Next, I threw up my hands and tried to not care. Then, I tried to fake it back into perfection. Finally, this year, I realized what mattered most was that we were having fun together as a family.

As the children squealed with delight, The Referee and I could not help but smile and laugh the whole time. I am pretty sure this was one of the most enjoyable Christmas decorating parties we have ever had.

Memories were made. Laughter was shared. Imperfections abound. Yet, it was all so perfect.

Earlier in the afternoon, I prepared a double batch of dinner, so that the kids and I could deliver meals to a couple elderly families from church. We tried to bless them with homemade cookies too. I am not sure how, but the cookies turned out way too dry.

I picked out the best looking ones for our friends. We started eating the rest. Dry and crumbly, but still very delicious. We dropped off the meals on the way to basketball practice.

I took all of the kids to basketball practice with me, even though only Jersey #1 and Jersey #2 were practicing. This gave The Referee a chance to set up the tree and string some lights while we were away. The kids don't have much patience for that tedious part of decorating. They prefer to start hanging ornaments immediately.

They wasted no time starting to hang ornaments as soon as they set foot inside the house. I am actually a bit surprised by how fast 5 kids can hang ornaments. Jersey #4 had 20 on the same branch.

The ornament box was half empty before The Referee could finish telling me that the tree is on its last leg this year....ready to collapse. The light strand that blinked different ways has also croaked. We were expecting that, as the matching blinking star croaked a couple years ago. It looks like I have a great excuse to shop the after-Christmas sales this year.

We forgot to add the garland before hanging all the ornaments. Jersey #2 had the solution--she decorated her self as a Christmas tree. For some reason, she loves to wear the stockings too.

The inflatable Tigger is suppose to be an outdoor decoration. The children love it so much that we continue to set it up inside the house.

After Jersey #3 found some reindeer ears and an elf hat, Jersey #4 went looking through the dress-up bin for a hat of her own. She was quickly distracted by the Veggie Tales Bob the Tomato hat. She wore that instead.

The box of candy canes barely touched a tree branch. We hung a few before the kids realized they were actually candy. They asked to eat them instead. Jersey #3 explained that candy is not a decoration....candy is for kids to eat. He had a point.

We wrapped up the evening by putting on PJs, brushing teeth, and curling up in the living room to watch the new Veggie Tales movie, "It's a Meaningful Life."

Merry Christmas!