As Slow as Christmas

Well, anyone who loves Christmas as much as I do, simply cannot wait for Christmas to get here. It feels like time drags and drags before you can bring out the Christmas music, the tree, the lights, the dishes....maybe you get the point! Unless you're like some people I know (cough, cough) who drag out the Christmas music in July.

I must admit - I'm guilty! I love to listen to Christmas music all year long, really! But it really feels like it will never get here.....and then December 1st hits and there's simply not enough time in the day hardly to get everything done that needs to get done. There's parties, programs, and whatever else you can think of to take up the hours of the days leading up to Christmas. Time drags by until it's time for Christmas to arrive and then it goes by so fast that you feel like you almost missed it.

I remember the days that I used to sit in the dark for HOURS and just watch the lights on our tree twinkle and think about nothing. Since that is such a rare occasion, I found that time very valuable. It's like my mind kinda went to sleep, but my eyes stayed open. I couldn't tell you the last time I found time to think about nothing......if it's not birthday parties, church functions, shopping for gifts, etc.....it's something else, like work! Any kind you can think of. I haven't had the time to sit and stare at my tree at all this year. And it's one of my favorite TRADITIONS!

But anyway....life moves on and it's not going as slow as Christmas used to be in coming for me. We usually spent Christmas Eve or the day before with Aunt Linda, Uncle Eddie, Mark, and Amy. We'd have a great time with them, then we'd pull out to head to Dayton. I remember Christmas mornings waking up at my Grandma's house waiting for everyone to get there....and it seemed they would NEVER show up. The anticipation - looking out that huge glass window in her living room that was so cold that just the slightest breath made it so foggy you couldn't see a thing, and was so thin, that the only way we could bear to stand next to it was to stand on top of the heater vent in the middle of the floor where the window was. We would stand or sit on that vent for hours, it felt like, waiting for some sign that family was on the way.

The snow flurries would start trickling down outside and slower than Christmas one or two relatives would show up. It was a yearly tradition that Aunt Bobbie Jean would come in her spike heels, crawl out of the car and slide and fall on the ice in the driveway.....every year. And we'd fall over laughing at her because she seemed to be so vain. I can hear her still....."OH, I broke another nail!".....in that nasal voice of hers. It always amazed me that she never learned. I really can't remember a Christmas that she didn't fall. It was either in the ice in the driveway or down the steps in the house. And, I also can't remember a time that I didn't laugh at her for doing it. I mean, why would anyone wear 5 inch heels in 2 inches of ice, anyway? And that, my friend, is not an exaggeration in the least.

Eventually, we'd all finally gather around the table and the conversations would be so many and so loud that you really couldn't think straight.....speaking of which....(I remember the first time I ate Thanksgiving with Jeremy's family while we were dating. While we ate, it seemed to me that no one said a word. I was most uncomfortable. As soon as we got back in the car, I told him immediately, if that was what he was used to, I didn't figure he'd ever survive when he met my family! )

Anyway, back to my ramblings, after a whole day of MAJOR chaos - (it was chaos for everyone but Grandpa - he just walked around with his "telescope" looking at everyone's food and gifts), we'd load up all our stuff, leave Grandma crying at the doorway, and head off to further north into deeper snow, to spend Christmas night with Mama and Papa in the big log cabin. Leaving Grandma's chaos and walking into Mama and Papa's dimly lit cabin with a little ceramic tree with tiny colored lights that glowed in the almost dark, was like walking into some type of sanctuary where the chaos we'd left was forbidden. We'd quietly break out the toys we accumulated that day and occupy ourselves until it was time to say good-night and crawl into the big bed with the ice cold sheets- and after a VERY long day of anticipating what was to come - all of a sudden, time had just evaporated into thin air and it was over. Gone!

Sometimes I miss those days. I didn't know what worries were. I don't know how many years this routine was TRADITION for us. It was an every year thing. Christmas was as slow in coming as anything - I can remember that delightful anticipation so well. It wasn't just so I could get another gift. It was because I was seeing family that I hadn't seen in at least 6 months - sometimes longer.

I reminisced for the sole purpose of reminding me that I am the one who allows life's appointments to overwhelm me and snatch the most anticipated time of year from me and all too soon become another memory. I think that this year, I'm going to do all of my Christmas shopping in July - just so I'll have it all done by December 1st - so that all I have to do then is sit back and wait and do some baking and throw a little birthday party for Addison. Maybe for once more in my life I could actually sit back and wait on Christmas......

Yeah, right! And everybody that believes that's possible, stand on their head!!

I hope you take at least a few minutes and remember a few memories that made you love this season. My memories are endless....I could go on forever, but I won't continue to bore you.

More than that, though, mostly take the time to remember the REASON you have to make these memories. What a beautiful time of year! Although, it can be quite a slow-poke getting here!!

In case I don't get on here to blog again before Christmas, I hope everyone has a very merry one. Enjoy yourself and your time with your families. Make memories that will last a lifetime.

Merry Christmas to All - and to all a Good night!!