Sweat & Sparkle

My husband and I were up early today, because there’s just so much to do. I’ll take over the kitchen for a little while this afternoon, baking cupcakes, making my own frosting, and experimenting with a new candy recipe.

Last night, we went to a park nearby with a Christmas lights display. I don’t remember the first time we went, because we’ve been going every year for so long. My older stepdaughter has come home to go with us every year, even after she left for college and then her new job. The last few years, she has come to the lights with her fiancé, who has become part of the gang to us.

The newest family member to join us this year was a tiny gentleman in his Christmas finery, including a little red sweater vest that could not possibly be any cuter. Our oldest son and his wife brought their baby son over to open presents and then head out to the lights. It’s amazing how someone so small can get such a chokehold on your heart, but he certainly does. When he smiles when he sees us, nothing else in the world matters.

We have seen this lights display so many times, but it was like a brand new experience last night, watching the wonder and amazement in his big, dazzling eyes. He wanted to touch the lights, preferably taste them too, but we wisely didn’t permit that. We took so many pictures that he was probably wondering why we kept stopping when there was so much to see.

I miss when the kids were little, and my husband and I waited until they fell asleep, then quietly transformed the living room into a magical Christmas morning, filling stockings, leaving Santa’s presents around the tree, taking a bite or two out of the cookies left for Santa, leaving the letter from Santa next to the plate. There’s something about viewing Christmas through a child’s eyes that taps into our own memories of that magic, that wonder, the excitement and awe.

When our son and his wife were leaving, our grandson reached a little arm out for my husband for one more good-bye nuzzle. I thought my husband was going to melt. I love watching him dote on the grandbabies, his eyes lighting up as they brew up the next mischief and mayhem they will get into. Someday, having him, our sons, and grandsons all together in one place will be a very noisy adventure, likely with each one trying to outdo the others, and I am not quite certain who the biggest troublemaker will be (but my money is on my husband)!

Off to the kitchen I go: time to play Christmas music and make a mess, bake, get dusted with flour, then settle down for a peaceful evening of watching Christmas movies before we head to bed for the big day.

Merry Christmas!

Two Days to Go!

Every morning, I update my Christmas countdown nutcracker on our mantel. Two days to go! My husband is wrapping some last-minute presents right now, and then we will get ready for our busy evening. I am excited to see everyone over the next few days, and then, believe it or not, soon it will be time to wrap up 2025 and welcome 2026…where did the year go?

Six Days to Go

Less than a week to go to Christmas! I spent a few hours the other evening drowning in wrapping paper, ribbon, bows, and tape, but all of my gifts are now wrapped and dressed up in their colorful decorations, except for the few stragglers that haven’t been delivered by Amazon or UPS yet.

Last night, my husband and I scattered my glitter glue tubes onto the kitchen counter and got to work, painting names onto Christmas stockings. One of them is for our youngest grandson, and I had to smile to myself as I watched my husband lean over that stocking, slowly and carefully placing the letters of our grandson’s name, making sure it was just right. We are excited about many things this year, and being a part of this little fellow’s very first Christmas is a huge one.

We did some shopping last night, too, and I picked up the ingredients for some baking over the weekend and next week. I keep running down my long, ever-growing mental checklist, making sure I am not missing anything before Christmas Day.

It’s been a busy holiday season, with a few more events still on the calendar. When I feel overwhelmed or aggravated, I stop and remind myself that there are certainly worse things in the world than Christmas parties, holiday celebrations, or preparing for loved ones to stop by. I like things orderly, organized, planned out to the tiniest detail, but if things don’t line up perfectly, guess what? It’s going to be just fine. It’s supposed to be about celebrating, having fun, enjoying each other, sharing time together. Loving each other. Making memories.

One More

I’m pretty sure I have posted this quote before, but that’s okay. I absolutely love it.

My husband and I got a late start with our Christmas tree this year. What can I say? There’s a lot going on. But last weekend, we finally rearranged the living room, got the tree into position, and pulled out all the boxes of ornaments.

Decorating our tree is quite the undertaking. We have been together nearly 20 years, and over that time, we have collected many, many Christmas ornaments.

Taking the lids off those boxes is a bit like Christmas morning, because each ornament is wrapped in tissue paper or bubble wrap, and each one needs to be unwrapped before being placed on the tree. We end up laughing and holding up the ornament we just uncovered:

“Remember this one?”

“Aww, look at this one.”

“Wow, how old is this one now?”

Some of them are deeply sentimental. One of our ornaments used to belong to my husband’s mother. That one gets handled very carefully, hung on the tree where he can see it but where it’s also protected. One of them was a gift from my mom for me, and that one is also gently and tenderly placed on the tree.

Some of them are just fun: sea turtles or shells from our beach trips, animals from zoo adventures, a glittery butterfly just because it’s pretty, personalized ornaments from amusement parks.

And some of them are mementos from important days of our lives: our first Christmas married, our first year in our house, baby’s first Christmas for our grandkids.

Some of the ornaments were picked out by the kids when they were small. I still remember wandering from decorated tree to decorated tree in the shop that day, letting the kids select whichever one caught their eye. Now, some of our ornaments are gifts that the kids have given to us.

It takes considerable time to decorate our tree. After all the ornaments come the pine cones, some tiny, some large, then the little red bows on as many branches as we can fit them. We play the only two Christmas CDs that we own, and then have to replay them, because we aren’t finished yet.

But when we are done, it’s always worth it. Every year, we say it’s the most beautiful tree we’ve ever decorated. Every year, I take pictures. Every year, my husband says he will miss the tree in the living room when we take it down after Christmas.

And every year, it’s my favorite part of Christmas: unwrapping the ornaments one by one, reliving the memories, small pieces of our lives together hanging on those branches, twinkling in the lights. Our tree is not store-bought. Our tree is us, built one ornament at a time, one year at a time, and even though we are running out of room on the tree, we still add at least one ornament each year.

Every year, as we circle the tree, hunting for an open spot, I tell my husband, “Dear, I think we’re running out of room.”

And every year, he tells me, with a tiny smile as he hooks an ornament onto the tree, “There’s always room for one more.”