Christmas 2006

My sister says Christmas is just another day. My cousin says Christmas was invented to oppress women. During the holiday season I find myself in each of their camps. The latter when I am busily trying to get everything done, the former when I realize the world isn’t going to end if I don’t get everything done. But I did manage to get a lot on the to-do list done this year, and found a whole new respect for ‘working moms’ in the process. I trimmed a big, beautiful tree, (my favorite aspect of Christmas), I made cookies, I bought presents, I even helped in making a happy Christmas for my sister’s kids by finding a Wii in the return cart at my local Costco and keeping my hand on it until the store manager gave the all-clear that I could indeed buy it. I planned and prepared meals, I delivered cookies to my aged neighbors, (although I did have to leave them on the doorstep because I don’t think they heard me knocking). I attended friendly get-togethers, I made a Christmas print, scanned it, made 100 cards and got them mailed before Christmas. (So what if the design was an interpretation of a 12th century painting of the Annuciation and who cares if I had to drive to the post office on December 23rd to make sure they got in the last pickup of the day? I got it done!) And I worked my three-day-a-week job at the church where, let’s face it, Christmas is a pretty big deal, a very busy time. Yes, I spent most of December frazzled and feeling oppressed, and now, here on December 29 with all the hubbub behind me, I realize that Christmas is just a day, a special day to be sure, but a day just the same. We spent the day they way most families do I suppose…opening presents, interacting in some fashion with said presents, listening to Christmas music, eating too much, napping, hanging out together, watching movies, making and recieving long distant phone calls from family far away. What makes Christmas more than just a day for me, besides that it’s a monumental marker of time, is that it’s one day that my kids don’t mind just hanging out with the family doing said things on the list above, in fact they expect it. It’s a tradition…like the tree, the presents, the cookies, the music. It makes them happy. Which is why I do what I do each December.