Pre-Holiday Post

Read any of the December magazines or watch the home and garden shows on cable television and you'll come away feeling discouraged, like you don't measure up. I've always loved reading and hearing about lovely holiday celebrations but it can be a bit overwhelming.

Who can wrap the entire inside of their house with garland and tinsel? Who can afford to have 30 fully-lighted, artificial trees in their front yard at 100 bucks a crack, or a life-sized team of reindeer on the roof?

Who can seat 20 or 30 well-dressed, smiling relatives around a huge dining table overloaded with platters of perfect-looking gourmet food? (I think they shellac it for the photo shoot.)

And the turkey is always golden brown, with fluffy little paper things on the end of his drumsticks, gracing the table. Anyone knows he gets carved up and his sorry-looking carcas sits on the kitchen cupboard dripping juice all over the cutting board and perhaps the floor.

And don't even get me started on cookie baking. The tray of ten different kinds of intricately decorated cookies looks so perfect in the magazines. You can almost smell them through the printed page. Trouble is, cookie baking day as I remember it (I don't do that anymore with an empty nest and healthful eating habits...sigh), was extremely tiring and stressful. It's a lot of work! The clean-up is awful.

Those of you in the throes of busy family, home, and career lives are already over-scheduled. Add in all the extras of the holidays, and it gets really tough. There's shopping, wrapping, decorating, baking, school productions, parties, etc. (Journalist friend, Peggy, discourages me from using "etc." But, it's such a lovely catch-all word, and I'm finding it a hard habit to break. Sorry, Peggy. I'll work on it.)

Lighten Up and Edit

The point is: Lighten up on your expectations for yourself and your family. Don't be afraid to edit the events and activities you enjoy. All are good but all may not be necessary for celebrating a very important time of year.

Don't let the marketers influence you to do more or spend more than you are capable of doing or want to do. See it as a contest of you vs. them. And then, win! Do what makes the holiday season meaningful for you, your family, and friends. You can go all out if it makes you happy, or you can slack off. I give you permission even to be a little lazy. Eliminate or add, do or don't. You direct a meaningful season.

It's o.k. if your etcetera (etc.) is imperfect or pared down so you can spend time on:

• personal worship
• connecting with or remembering special people
• perhaps interacting with strangers who need some company

Future posts will consider holiday issues such as:

1. Sensitivity Barometer
2. A Person who Ponders
3. An Angel Party
4. Christmas Alone