Kathy said around cocktail hour on December 23, 2007
I do the same thing to myself every year. I dream the impossibly perfect Christmas. I’ll own it. I am lucky to have grown up with very fond memories of Christmases full of good times, merriment, family, food, and just that general “good” Christmas feeling. As an adult, I have always practiced and aimed for recreating that feeling. That warm fuzzy cinnamon scented Christmas full of excitement and laughter. I want my kids to have the same wonderful memory and fondness of Christmas that I have. Of course, in true me fashion, it doesn’t always go the way I hope.
I am a Christmas Perfectionist. I think I’ve ruined some of my own holidays trying to achieve it and only recently realized that it’s not about the food being perfect or the flawlessly decorated tree (although I will never stray from my perfect lighting procedure where the lights in the center of the tree subtly dim and twinkle in a very non-obnoxious way.. I rule with the lights). I have come to let go a little of trying to create the perfect holiday. It’s too much stress and I strip the fun out of it for myself. Its not about the day being perfect. The feeling will happen even if I don’t have my chocolate oranges like I have EVERY year and now suddenly people are hoarding them in stockpiles in their homes and I can’t find one single solitary bastard chocolate orange to save my LIFE. *pant*
I came to this profound epiphany on the way home from the grocery store earlier today when I had a frozen turkey breast seated in the passenger seat of my car. I came to a rather abrupt stop and the turkey rolled off the seat and on the floor. It was rolling around banging into the door and then rolled under my feet nearly lodging itself under the gas pedal. Lucky for me I retrieved it without causing a 10 car pile up and drove home with it in my lap. My Christmas turkey has been rolling around the floor of my car and got intimate with me on the ride home. That’s what will be in my head when I watch my family taking polite bites of it at dinner Tuesday night.
This is the stuff I’ll remember. Not the perfection of a perfectly executed Christmas, but the stupid things that happen… and I hope my kids remember them too. The time “Mom burned the turkey and we had to order pizza” or the time “the tree turned totally brown a week before Christmas”. This year, it’ll be “...the time Mom almost bit it when our Christmas dinner turkey wedged under her gas pedal.”.
Happy Holidays! Hope your holiday is a memorable one.
from Tampa, FL
I am guilty of trying to recreate the perfect Christmas too. And today, I came to the same realization. So I was able to relax, and clean my house, and when I saw that my kitchen curtain (which is black...or...was black lol) was covered in dust.. I didn’t panic. I took it down, took it outside and beat it with a wooden spoon, and then I put it back. No one will know that I didn’t actually wash them.
Well, except for the whole internet. LOL
Merry Christmas!
from San Diego, CA
Cocktail: Slighty dirty Grey Goose Martini
omg. I so wish I’d been there for the turkey thing. I just laughed so hard.
from Cleveland, TN
LMAO!!! I can so relate to you on this!!! Maybe not specifically trying to have the best (or perfect) Christmas, but certainly in many other areas. I, like you, spoil the fun by being too damn rigid with the way things go: my way or the highway mentality.
It’s actually been a cramp in my side that I’ve learned to self-medicate and ignore.
I’ve done things like you have with the turkey and say to myself, “If they only knew...” then chuckle internally!!
Have a good one!they27
from Farm Country, PA
Cocktail: Your Mom
totally read “excitement and laughter” as “excrement and laughter.” I guess it’s always about the poop.
I think for me, I feel like the holiday is lacking the magic that I so feverishly search for every year. Last year was a complete and utter nightmare, and by the time the holiday came around, I just wanted to completely forget about it. This year, I should be excited. I should be giddy thinking about it being the Mini’s first, we’re plus one more in our family, we have a new house, I’m finally back home. Yet, it’s just not there. I don’t know why, and it’s been bugging me. The holiday seemed to be more of a struggle this year. It snuck up on me. And here we are a day and a half away. I’ve just finally finished wrapping presents, and I’m like, “eh.”
I have so much to be grateful for this year. Hell, there’s something to be grateful for every year, I guess this year, I just wanted a little more magic to go with it.
from your moms.
Merry Christmas, Kathy! What a fantastic story… you rock! Thanks for a great visual and laugh.
from your moms.
This Christmas hasn’t been a magicy for me (yet, anyway) as it has always been in the past. Nevertheless, I love Christmas, and want my kids to have that special place in their hearts for it that I have in mine (and I think they do).
Merry Christmas, Kathy!
from Canada
May you have a wondrous, and even a little goofy, Christmas.
from joisee
delurking…
guess i’m not the only one feeling the lack of christmas-time magic and yuletide cheer. i’m getting there, EXTREMELY slowly, but surely. still, i’m hoping it will be a great and memorable one for the kiddies in the fam
great turkey story! definitely put a smile on my face :D
merry christmas to you and yours!
from somewhere north and west of you.
What I wouldn’t give to have seen that in person! Hope the turkey got cooked and you could enjoy it without thoughts of where it had been. Merry Christmas to you and your family!
from Orlando, FL
Cocktail: Cabernet Sauvignon; gallons of it.
Merry Christmas! I hope you gave that turkey “what for”. Although I suppose that cramming something up its ass, cooking it and then eating it would suffice.
The year, the excitement and magic were there for me. I’ve found that when I stop trying to make it happen, it just does. ::end of wise old coot musings::
from Rockville, MD
okay, having just watched “christmas vacation”, when i read your description, this was ALL i could think of:
ellen: you set standards that no family activity can live up to.
clark: when have I ever done that?
ellen: parties, weddings, anniversaries, funerals, holidays, vacations, graduations…
from Toronto, Canada
I’ve always wanted one of those mommy-burned-the-turkey-so-we-had-pizza meals. I MUCH prefer pizza to turkey!