The holidays are messy

Bruce and I are non-traditionalists when it comes to holidays....we don’t really celebrate them unless of course you count putting a basket of chocolate on his desk in the morning...they don't have to resemble eggs, rabbits, snowmen, or even reindeer he will eat them!!! 

I myself like the visuals and smells of the holidays....the frosted windows of the small cabin with the light all a glow on a cold winter night....the smell of fresh cut fir trees leaning outside the super market, the beautiful light pink wrapping paper with satin bow dusted with what looks like fairy dust...the smell of oranges and cloves...I just love the first snow fall that blankets the ground making all the trees look like someone carefully frosted them. 

However reality is the holidays are messy and unpredictable....

Remember the pictures of the holidays depicted by Norman Rockwell....as a child I always wondered why my holidays didn't look like this...the happy family bundled up bearing gifts at a door, stocking hung by the chimney with care, the warm fire and beautifully decorated tree....you know the one. It seems my parents missed the memo....my family was the one where the tired parents looking frustrated with three kids completely out of control wanting to carry the over-sized gifts wrapped in what looks like old birthday wrapping because someone forgot to buy wrapping....the tree is crooked and the lights are all on one side of tree while all the decorations on the bottom...the stockings are nowhere in sight and ashes fill the fire place...

Christmas dinner with the older gentleman cutting the turkey at the table looking noble and the generations of family gathered around a long elegant table...engaging happily.  Just once it would have been nice to have experienced this version, unfortunately I don't think it exists. Having spent many dinners away from my family I never sat at this table.  Each family had it's quirks....However my family dinners were the most fun..if you can understand the quote "Let's put the dys back in function."  That was my families motto....or "pack your bags were going on a guilt trip"....we had many trips around our dinner table over the years. From my Grandpa falling into his soup...and my Grandma giving him the side eye while saying to everyone "He's okay" she just rolled his head out of the bowl so he didn't drowned....Nobody even flinched, nobody even grasped in concern...they just carried on like it was just another family dinner....I guess it was just another family dinner!!!  If you paid close attention you would see peas being flicked across the table at siblings , while other food was even discreetly handed to the dog....our table was loud with very inappropriate conversations taking center stage. No topic was off limits...

My holidays growing up as a child may not resemble a Rockwell painting, but it does make me laugh and makes for great stories.
Like I have said the holiday season is messy....



Grow, Harvest, Cook Eat
Jenn

Time is a beautiful gift

This time of year my anxiety kicks into over drive....the stores are busy stocking decorations and everything is oh so wonderful....Deck the Halls and Fa La la keep playing in my mind. I look with wonder and oh my gosh that would be so perfect....but is it? As sugar plums dance in my head....and the smell of for boughs linger all around me......I think of Who-ville & the Grinch and how he stole Christmas....but did he?

“And the Grinch, with his grinch-feet ice-cold in the snow,
Stood puzzling and puzzling: 'How could it be so?'
It came without ribbons! It came without tags!
It came without packages, boxes or bags!
And he puzzled three hours, till his puzzler was sore.
Then the Grinch thought of something he hadn't before!
'Maybe Christmas,' he thought, 'doesn't come from a store.' "

Sometimes I catch myself getting all caught up in the fa La La and need to remember that the holidays are not about gifts and ribbons and bows...but more about spending quality time with friends and family....and giving to those less fortunate then myself.

Time is the beautiful gift we are all given in life. ... The time and experience you spend with someone shows its meaning. The time that you set aside to commit to something can never be replaced. Time is the best thing you can share with someone. Time is the gift that we all have.

Grow, Harvest, Cook, Eat

Jenn