Taking Back the Magic

So the holiday rush is upon us again.  Wow!  Thanksgiving, the turkey, the stuffing, the mashed potatoes, all behind us (in more than one way).  Now it's that time, the rush, the madness, the craze.   It has begun.

I remember as a kid how magical this time of the year was, the excitement of going to pick out that "perfect" tree, decorating the house, baking cookies with my sister, playing Christmas music "all the time", snooping for presents when Mom and Dad weren't around, watching Rudolph and Frosty (back then, they were only one ONE TIME a year, so you couldn't miss it, and the original Walton's movie, Homecoming.   The holiday was filled with twinkle and sparkle, all glittery and shiny.   Grandmom would be coming to spend the holiday with us!   

What happened to all that?  For me, as an adult, recently, it became more about the shopping, the rush, the stress to make sure we spent equal time with both sides of the family, to get those "perfect gifts".   As I sat in front of my lighted and undecorated tree a few nights ago, I wondered, how did this happen and why.   What happened to the magic?   I always had an idea of what my Christmases as a married couple would be like, house full children and screaming and singing and baking, decorating, snooping for presents....what I had grown up with.  But unfortunately, after several losses and other circumstances, we were just never blessed with our own children.   But does that mean I can't have the magic? 

So I'm taking the magic back!  But how?   Well, number one is to enjoy the time, the season, the sights and sounds of the holiday with my husband.  Last night we spent hours in the kitchen together baking pizzelles (a first), and we found ourselves smiling and laughing, enjoying the time together, and feeling a little of the sparkle and glitter of the holiday sneaking in.

What else can I do to make the magic happen?  Get rid of the stress.  Do what makes us happy.   What makes me happy is to bake cookies, put them out on pretty plates wrapped with colored wrap and bows and deliver them to friends and neighbors.   So we're doing that again.

What makes me happy is gingerbread!  I have just scheduled, for our third year (I guess it's now a tradition) our gingerbread house day!  My nieces are coming and my sister-in-laws, and we'll spend the day cutting and baking the pieces of our house, then building and decorating it!  It's a wonderful time spent with the family, without all the other stresses of the holiday, and it's become a magical time for me.  Here's a picture of our very first gingerbread house.

What makes me happy is seeing the beautiful homemade cards that hubby creates to send out to our special family and friends.  What makes me happy is listening to Christmas music in the car and watching Christmas shows on tv.

Hubby and I are not doing the big gift exchange this year.  That is our gift to each other, to just relax and enjoy the time with each other.

And one of the other things that will make this holiday magical this year for me is spending Christmas with my mom, cooking a turkey, making the stuffing, her coleslaw, not so much about the food itself, but the tradition, as I did when I was a kid.    I can't wait!

So right now, I'm finding the magic of the holiday each and every day.  I'm hoping that today I will get a chance to get out and get a fresh wreath for the door, and then go around the neighborhood, picking little pieces of different evergreens to add to the wreath to make it "extra special".

So what do you do "for yourself" to keep the magic in the holiday?