Well……we made it through the holidays and we are still in one piece! Or are we?
Getting ready for Christmas can be overwhelming for many of us. We barely got through Thanksgiving and then……THE MADNESS HIT!! I learned a lesson the hard way this year. I tried to go shopping on Black Friday!!! What was I thinking? I had been so busy up until Thanksgiving that I finally had a chance to go to the grocery store, but, believe me, it was the wrong day!!!
There I was trying to grocery shop at Walmart, with lines roped off and people standing in line for countless hours, some of them even sprawled out across the floor. They were waiting for the signal to be let loose to race one another to get the latest version of XBOX or some other electronic, or to grab the last Barbie and her horse, Spirit, while all I was trying to buy was some coffee or tomorrow’s dinner. It’s crazy, but I got in the wrong line that was going no where. I had a slight panic attack, wondering if I would ever find my way out of the store. Finally, after I was almost run down multiple times, I just parked my cart and tried to escape without being the latest headline in the newspaper of “Woman Killed In Local Store While Buying Coffee.” In the meantime, I pressed through the crowd to find Mark waiting amused on a bench at the front of the store. He had been waiting for what seemed like several hours, thinking that I would appear with a cart full of delicious groceries, to see me leave the store empty handed; and something that I will never be able to fully comprehend, is how he managed to meet some new friends while they were waiting carefree on others who were caught in the same mess I was in.
Don’t get me wrong! I love to shop! I can shop with the best of them! I have eight grandchildren, but to tell you the truth, there is nothing that I desire that much that warrants being mauled by crowds of angry people bent on killing anyone who gets in their way. I saw a completely different side of what materialism at Christmas was like this year!
If you can survive the shopping, then, there’s the Christmas cards, the decorating and all that goes with it, not to mention all of the parties and the kid’s school programs and concerts. Now, my biggest problem since we’ve got all that behind us is taking down the decorations. My tree is laying in three pieces in the spare bedroom until I can find a storage bag big enough to fit it!!! I never dreamed that this could even be a problem. I bought the tree this year, and I got a really great price on it. It’s really not that big of a tree. It’s only seven feet tall, but the problem is that it is so full that I can’t find a single container to fit each piece that is wide enough!!! It’s ending up that I am spending more on multiple containers to fit the tree, than I did on the tree, itself! Oh well…..I’ve got to laugh!!! I know God has a sense of humor, too, and He must have had some good laughs at me this year.
In the whole scheme of things, it’s been a lot of fun! Yes, a little crazy at times, but I am so thankful for family, friends, laughter, joy, Cheryl’s cookies, the Hallmark Christmas movies, and all of the special moments that have come with this Christmas season! There are countless blessings that I will always treasure. Sometimes, you just have to look a little harder past all of the chaos to find them, but if you look hard enough, they are there. I am so blessed to watch all eight of my grandchildren laughing and having fun and healthy, and my sweet mama of eighty one still with us, helping to shop and plan the dinner. These are the Christmas specials that no Black Friday special could ever duplicate. These are God’s simple treasures that He plants in our hearts to fill our days with love and countless memories for a lifetime, and they are not to be taken for granted!
No matter what, I still love this crazy, beautiful life that God has so richly blessed me with and I am looking forward to the happiest New Year ever!!!