It’s all over now. The gifts are unwrapped. Everyone has gone home. The leftovers are gone. The unlit wreaths remain hanging outside. We took down the tree and put the ornaments away. I still find bits of wrapping paper and tape here and there. Sparkles of glitter reveal themselves when the lighting is just right.
I pause and put my memory on rewind. There was much cooking, yet I didn’t get to make everything I would have liked to. Even so, we had plenty. I didn’t get everything baked that I wanted to, but there was still a large assortment of goodies. With each passing year, fewer tasks get accomplished prior to Christmas, and yet, those tasks take longer. The house wasn’t perfectly immaculate, as I would like. We didn’t even get the bows put on the gifts. I have learned in these later years that it doesn’t have to be perfect.
With all of the imperfections for one who would love to have a perfect Christmas, what memories stand out in my mind? I think back to years ago when I spilled the gravy down the front of the stove on Christmas day. “Now, you’ve ruined Christmas,” my kids said, as they laughed heartily. That made me laugh. That created a memory that is recalled almost every Christmas.
As for this past Christmas, I smile. I think about sitting in church with my family as we held flickering candles and sang Silent Night. I love listening to my granddaughter and grandson’s beautiful voices blending together. I think about a lovely night at my daughter and son-in-law’s house for Christmas Eve as we indulged in Christmas treats and enjoyed the beauty of their nicely decorated new home. I think of Christmas day and night with family and too much food. There’s always too much food, because I don’t want to be caught short. When will I learn?
“They feast on the abundance of your house;
Psalm 36:8
you give them drink from your river of delights.”
It seems there is always someone who can’t come and that leaves a void. I smile as I remember opening gifts and the laughter and games. We have a few traditions. We can’t break the traditions or it isn’t Christmas. We enjoy the humor of our teenaged grandchildren and our adult children. Young people keep it fresh and interesting. One bit of humor fuels another. Soon we are all laughing uncontrollably. And then, more food. Pies and cookies, candy, sausage, cheese, and crackers. Most years I put out at least one food item that causes someone to say, “What is this?”
Because of the busy schedules and work schedules, we sometimes aren’t able to open gifts until Christmas evening. Following the gift opening, we often are treated to “bonus gifts” from our son. He has a favorite store that he visits frequently throughout the year. Bargains and freebies are accumulated throughout the year for use as bonus Christmas gifts. He and our grandson give creative and entertaining sales pitches to cause competitors to “bid” on the items. This is the cause for many laughs.
Two days later I find myself doing it again. A double party on the same day. First, a tea party. Unsure if I could handle all this activity, I debated about it. Then my granddaughter texted me, “Should we bring our tea hats?” That was my prompt. A year ago we had our first tea party. It was such a good time. We banned the presence of the men during the tea party, but told them they could return at the appointed hour. “I don’t see why the men can’t be here for the tea party,” they say as they depart for the restaurant. We women snicker. We don our tea hats. As the ladies select their brew, my sister-in-law looks at the Queen Elizabeth tea. “I’d like some of that old lady tea,” she says. We giggle as we pass it to her. We extend our pinkies up as we drink our tea. Following our tea party, we play nice and let the men return to the house from their restaurant lunch. Our grandson likes macrons. He was worried he’d miss out. Before he left I pulled the freezer door open and showed him some extras. “I’ve got you covered,” I said with a smile. We greet the returning men with a charcuterie board with all the fixings. They get to sample the left-overs from the tea party. We play games, visit, laugh, and catch up. We soak it in. A beautiful time with family. It all ends too soon, but it ends in hugs and words of affection.
Later that night, we play our traditional dice game with our children and grandchildren. We “shake” two large inflatable dice. Whoever gets a seven or eleven gets to choose one of the many wrapped gifts. Some are gag gifts. Some are usable. Some are not. Some are foolish. Some are practical. Most are inexpensive. Funny comments and laughter follow. There’s always a story behind the funny comments. Just ask my daughter and granddaughter what the leaky sauce was all about. Ask my grandson what the quack quack was all about. They were both good for hilarity. Those spontaneous jokes were revisited intermittently throughout the rest of Christmas week.
Traditions. Some old. Some new. All cherished. Now, it is over for another year. Gradually, we put away the decorations. We move the furniture back to its rightful place. We eat the left-overs. We sleep late after everyone goes home. Twelve hours of sleep the first night. Ten hours of sleep the second night. Nine hours of sleep the third night. A week later we are still resting frequently. Every day we do a little as we work toward getting the house back to normal.
The way I see it, Christmas takes up at least one-fourth of my year. Two months of preparation with the shopping, decorating, and baking. One month of clean-up and recuperation. Because I’m getting older. Because I’m getting slower. It’s a worthy cause to be able to celebrate the birth of our Savior and time with our loved ones. I have been putting on Christmas dinners for my family for over fifty years. I have accepted that I am not superwoman anymore. I look for simpler ways. I take shortcuts. I accept help. I focus on the important things: faith, family, traditions, and good times with loved ones.
A friend tells me it warmed her heart to see my son and grandson sitting together in church singing Christmas hymns. “You don’t get to see that often,” she said. When the holiday is over and the assessments come in, I smile at their words. “That was a very good meal,” my daughter says about Christmas supper (even though I had to cheat and buy pies at the bakery). “I love brunches,” my daughter-in-law says about Christmas brunch as we hold off on the big meal until my daughter is done work later on Christmas evening. I think of my granddaughter’s words about the tea party and the after party: “Today was a really fun day!” That’s what keeps this grandma going when the exhaustion sets in. It is good to see everyone have a good time and spend time with loved ones.
A few days later after everyone has gone home, I sit in my recliner with my slipper-covered feet elevated and my body hugged by my warmest robe. My lips curl up into a little smile as my eyelids grow heavy. “What are you thinking about?” he says. He is that wonderful man I married 57 years ago. That man who has contributed to so many warm Christmas memories. That man who is always there when I need some back-up, an extra pair of hands, or an expert gift-wrapper. That man who lightens the mood when I get stressed out. Where did all those years go? Well, at three months per year, I figure a total of ten of those years were spent on Christmas prep and the aftermath!
“What am I thinking about?” I reply. “Just basking. Basking in the aftermath of Christmas,” I tell him. I close my eyes and laugh. “Leaky sauce!” I say. “Quack! Quack!” I say with a grin as I lower my voice. You had to have been there.
I hope that you, also, have basked in the aftermath of your Christmas. However your Christmas looked, I hope that you embraced loved ones and enjoyed precious time together. Regardless of our circumstances or what the world looks like in these turbulent times, as we celebrate Jesus’s birth, we all have that to rejoice in. For that, we are glad. For that, we bask in the aftermath of Christmas and tuck those memories away to recall again in the future. How blessed we are!
“This is the day that the Lord has made;
Psalm 118:24
let us rejoice and be glad in it.”