ONLY ONE DOWN, BUT IT’S A START

It’s the end of November people.  There is less that a month until the big day when Santa does his thing and we all eat turkey and chocolates until we nearly explode.  There is SO MUCH TO DO before then!  And I haven’t even started.

Well, actually, that’s a lie.  I have started.  Recently I woke up to my usual let’s-worry-about-things-I-can’t-control time of just after 3:00 in the morning and selected as my ‘worry de jour’ the fact that I hadn’t even begun my Christmas letter yet.  I know that this is an antiquated custom, but it’s a really nice one where folks keep in touch and share their family’s news with a Christmas card and letter every year.  I know I’m an oddity in 2025 to keep this up but I have a small fan club who look forward to my annual news and season’s greetings.  I don’t want to disappoint.  Realizing that I wasn’t even started this letter in the last week of November sparked a tiny flame of momentum.  I would get right on that in the morning.

I confess, it wasn’t the very next morning, but I did get it done.  All I need to do is proof read it and hit SEND and I can cross that job off the list.  Except for a few elderly folks who get hard copy letters they all go by email.  I know I am eating into my Canada Post pension by not buying stamps but my ‘fan club’ membership is over 100.  I have to be frugal.

That’s one job down, about a thousand to go.

The next one better be getting gifts in order.  I was inspired back in August and found something that I think the youngest grandkids will enjoy.  I bought them.  They are only a partial gift so I can’t even wrap them, let alone send them, but they sit in a box of my inertia awaiting lord only knows what … divine inspiration, I suppose?  It better happen pretty soon.  A lot of my family lives on other continents and I’m already late. (See? Canada Post still gets a sizable chunk of my pension back!)

My outdoor decorating has been sizing itself down over the past decade.  As strings of lights die I haven’t been replacing them.  I’m down to two deer and a pole Christmas tree.  I have them out in place on the front lawn and will march across the yard to plug them in on December 1^st.  That will be job #2.

Baking.  Ah!  That baking thing I do every year.  Gingersnaps and puff pastry/lemon cheese tarts, mincemeat cookies and butter tarts – some with raisins and some with pecans. Other cookies with macadamia nuts and cranberries and some with white chocolate chips.  How we can go through that many crazy calories in such a short time makes my head spin, but I’ll make them again this year and they will all disappear like they do every other time.  Best not to start that too early though – a person wants some of them to still be around to serve guests on the big day.  Meanwhile I will probably make at least three batches of poppycock.

This lots-of-baking thing is especially important this year because I believe it’s my turn to host the feast.  I haven’t done a potential head count yet but except for the Covid years a gathering of our clan tends to number at least 20 and quite often almost double that.  We have a decent sized house but the term ‘bursting at the seams’ applies.  It’s noisy and happy and fun to be together and I’m always glad when it’s not my turn for another few years.

The one thing I am looking forward to is decorating the tree.  I love to do this all by myself, with Christmas music playing softly in the background.  Sorting through the ornaments and memories of all the other trees I’ve decorated in my life.  In 70 years that’s a lot of memories … of my mom and dad, my siblings and our intense excitement over what gifts we might be getting. And later of having my own young family and seeing the ancient magic through their eyes, and now being the grandmother carrying these moments forward to share with the next generation.  The most magical moments in December are sipping my early morning coffee, bathed in the twinkle and glow of Christmas lights – just me and the tree.

The glass of wine to celebrate finishing decorating it is a close second.

There are the other periphery treats too: twinkle tours around town  to enjoy the pretty lights, phone calls from people who don’t write letters but like to stay in touch anyway, and ridiculously saccharine Christmas movies with their happily-ever-after story lines to name a few.  It’s all part and parcel of this festival time of year.

May we all find the peace and promise we are seeking.  For me it begins on December 21^st when our wobble back towards longer daylight hours begin.