"Picture Perfect" Christmas

MOO-RY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!! (From our COLD Christmas Day bike ride)

 I recently read these two reminders about social media:

"We never really know what's going on in people's lives beyond what they choose to share on carefully filtered feeds."

"...when we believe someone is perfect, we just haven't seen all the details."

Several years ago, I was saddened when a friend suggested that people were probably depressed by my yearly Christmas card update.  Apparently, me trying to focus on the positive aspects of the year sent the message that my children were perfect and life was bliss.  I recognize that the happy parts of life are not true reality, but it doesn't seem right to send out a Christmas card with only the "lowlights" listed.

2020 was full of challenges.  It was emotionally painful to watch my young adult children have their life plans upended or to make choices I never had to make.  It was physically painful to have a back injury as my constant friend.  It was financially painful to lose travel plans and pay for endless trips to a doctor or therapist instead.  It was mentally painful to have to adjust to everyone being in each other's space.  It was hard to exist in a world filled with so much strife, where we second guessed our every comment or action, for fear we were inadvertently offending someone.  You get the idea because you lived much of that, too.

But life can be filled with joy, so I choose to focus on that.

No one came home for Christmas.  But it was still awesome.  Thanks to the miracles of modern technology, we were able to spend quality time with our kids, siblings, and parents.  In some ways, it was even better than other years.  We mailed presents and opened them over Zoom.  We scanned game cards and played them together over Zoom.  We took pictures of things that made us smile.  We played computer games remotely.  We thought more about the gifts and messages we shared because we only had a short time to share them.  We made extra effort to reach out to people we couldn't see in person because we knew it mattered.  We even sent Amazon receipts so people could return gifts they didn't like -- all without the usual large gathering we were used to.  And it worked.  And we made happy memories.  Here are some of my favorite memories:

Nothing says "welcome home" quite like a comfy place to sit by the front door.  
Lizzie begged us to throw the old broken toilet in the trash!
We had fun (and also lots of arguments) recording our family's contribution to our ward's 12 Days of Christmas virtual celebration.
We made homemade treats and wrapped gifts to ship packages to kids on both sides of the continent.
My brother came to town because the team he is a doctor for was playing at BYU.  We got to enjoy an outdoor walk in the cold while we talked for a few hours.
We celebrated a 25th birthday via Zoom.
We messed with our children's minds by wrapping the new toilet box and putting it by the tree for a few weeks, as they racked their brains trying to figure out what we were giving them.  We moved it on top of the REAL gifts on Christmas Eve.

We enjoyed our favorite tradition -- a "Bethlehem Dinner" on Christmas Eve -- with Zoom guests from California.
We even tried out a new "tradition" -- a Grinch dinner, complete with Who Hash, Roast Beast, and holding hands while singing "Dahoo Dores" before our meal
We gave a few gifts just to make each other laugh:  stress balls that stick to the ceiling, socks we earned from donating to a political campaign, wrestling pointers from the thrift store


A few of our Christmas Day Zoom calls

Opening "Christmas crackers" as an extended family
Even bringing in the New Year with a "Drive - In" fireworks show at the mall.

Yes, there were also disagreements and tantrums, physical and emotional pains, sickness and weather that made things less ideal.  But life is good.  The hard times make us stronger and the good times hold us over.  I'm grateful that my life isn't perfect, but I won't apologize for choosing to share mostly good stuff with those I love.  I'm grateful for the memories -- both good and bad!

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Family Makes My Heart Happy

Image
  It's been over a year since I wrote anything here.  But, that one line about sums it up:  FAMILY MAKES MY HEART HAPPY.  I've had a few diversions, like taking some Spanish classes at BYU and keeping busy with some service in the community, but otherwise, the days have flown by in pursuit of loving my family.  It hasn't all been easy or fun, but here are some of my favorite highlights: Lots of trips/visits to see each other...sometimes across town...sometimes across the country... Lots of celebrations... Lots of outdoor adventures and silliness... Hours and hours of Facebook Messenger... Quite a few concerts... Two trips to the Pacific Northwest...one to the Track and Field Olympic Trials and one to an Alaskan Cruise... And even adding a few more family members to love... In celebration of the people you call your family, go find one of them to hug -- in person, or with words.  I may not be perfect at it, but I'm learning more and more each day about how t...
Read more

Longest Summer Ever

Image
  Yesterday officially marked the end of summer.  Phew!  Not only has it been hot and dry, but it has been full to the brim with adventure.  Here are a few of the highlights: In May, we had a few graduations and helped a child move to a new apartment... Then we fled the country to hike 84 miles around the Beara Peninsula in Ireland. While we were in Ireland, the kiddos left on a road trip across the country so one of them could say he'd been to all 50 states. A few weeks later, we did a road trip to the Wind Rivers, the Tetons, and Yellowstone (one of our kids got married in a small private ceremony while we were gone).. Then we flew to Portland (after a quick 4th of July breakfast) to have some adventures with extended family... We focused on hosting guests and a wedding for a few weeks (relaxing and enjoying time with family amid the wedding hustle and bustle)... Two weeks later, we drove to San Diego for our first ever family reunion with our immediate family (onl...
Read more

DOGS HATE ME!!

As if I need one more thing to have an irrational fear of!! I thought I was being a great citizen and mother this morning by walking to school instead of driving, and thus spending quality time with my son as we walked together. After dropping him off and heading back up the hill home, I passed by a house with a dog out front (which is nothing surprising since it seems that's the norm around this hick neighborhood). I made eye contact with the beast, slowed my pace a bit, and walked on the far side of the sidewalk past him. Nevertheless, he decided I looked threatening I guess, and ran around behind me and sunk his teeth into my meaty backside! I screamed in shock and fortunately he decided I didn't taste good (kind of like sharks, I guess). A few people driving past slowed down to see what happened, but then drove on. The owner came out and I shouted, "Your dog just bit me!" Of course, as all dog owners innocently claim, "he's never done anything lik...
Read more