The Countdown to Christmas

This is the last weekend before Christmas. For some of us it is panic time. The last minute shopping, the final Christmas card to send out to someone who sent you one, wrapping, planning the holiday meals and cooking ahead. . .the list seems endless. This week's theme was to give you some hints for preparing for impromptu visitors or for cleaning up after the holidays. Instead, I'd like to give you something else. Permission to:

• slow down and enjoy your family for the day


• escape with a good book or magazine for an hour or two


• tell that last minute person who wants to stop by that you won't be home--and then take your kids to the mall or a movie for a while


• not have a perfectly spotless house (you are probably the only one who cares about spotless)


• indulge in a bubble bath


• turn down another invitation to another function in order to spend some time with your spouse alone, maybe holding hands across the table from each other at a restaurant--even if it's McDonald's

You get the picture, don't you? At this point in time we Christmas organizers, keepers of the tradition, social secretaries need to stop and take a breath. We need to remember that this is a time for us to enjoy the family, renew our faith, and freshen our spirits. Don't let the to-do list zap what energy is left as you countdown to Christmas Day.

By the way, you also have permission to go out and make angels in the snow (should you be fortunate to have any). This is a picture of the snow angel made by my mother-in-law that I wrote about in A Scrapbook of Christmas Firsts.