I don't suffer from the Christmas Card Craze

This time of year is a hectic time of year for so many people. It could be for me, if I was that way inclined but I’m not. I don’t mind Christmas shopping (for the most part), I like baking, I have a husband who is fantastic about helping out around the house and I love Christmas parties. I no longer stress over cooking Christmas dinner because I have finally figured out how a turkey should be cooked. Wrapped in bacon all the way baby. So you see, I really have nothing to worry about other than enjoying the season.

A number of people have been telling me how stressed they are and I can only chuckle. I believe that you are only as stressed as you let yourself be (this is excluding single working parents – I can’t imagine the stress you experience everyday, never mind at Christmas). I find it amusing that people are getting anxious over writing Christmas cards. My answer to that? Don’t send them if it has become such a chore. I love getting Christmas cards from family and friends I don’t get to see very often but I really don’t get the point of a card that just has someone’s named signed to it; obviously if you can’t take a second to write a brief message then you are only sending a card out of a sense of obligation. I don’t send any out, other than to family back in Canada but I think I forgot to put them in the package I sent home with my brother in September. I don’t give them out to colleagues or neighbours either as I just can’t be bothered.

What I find incredibly hard at this time of year (and will come as no surprise to any of you) is that I miss my family terribly. So, so terribly. I want to be doing last minute shopping with my sister and then sit for awhile drinking lattes as we laugh and talk; I want to be there to eat Dad’s tray of nibbles as we watch A Wonderful Life as my Aunts and Uncle pop in and out throughout the evening on Christmas Eve. I don’t think I will ever stop missing my little sister coming to wake me on Christmas morning. I don’t know when I will next get to sit around my mom’s table on Christmas Day and share a meal with them… my husband has never been home with me for Christmas and I haven’t had a Christmas with them in six years now. It’s a long time, yet the ticket prices are usually so extortionate. Maybe next year (something I unfortunately say every year)…. My mom told me the other day that my sister Sandra was flying in on Christmas morning. My first reaction was joy for mom, but then envy for me. What a Christmas gift to give my mother, better than any present that will be under the tree.

Speaking of trees, we had some friends over on Saturday night to help adorn the tree. This was the result:

(Not the best photo as it was taken with my mobile, however I'm sure you will see a few more over the next few weeks.)

As usual, I ended up with some amazing new decorations for the tree, ones that I will remember fondly in years to come. (I always ask those who are coming to help for the first time to bring a decoration for the tree). A new friend came and was dismayed that she got the colour scheme wrong yet I told her no worries, when I see that one red bauble it will make me think of her; it’s quirky and fun like she is and I’m hardly one to stress over the fact that my tree might not be a vision of perfection in someone else’s eyes.