"MERRY" CHRISTMAS?

I'm afraid I have a genetic disorder that only gets worse as I get older. You see, during the "decorating for Christmas" days of my childhood, I have many fond memories...and one not so fond memory. It was the only time of the year I ever heard my mother use a foul word or two. It seemed to happen the most when we were trimming the tree. I would follow her around the tree holding the unstrung portion of the lights while she placed them on the tree...trying desperately not to let any of the empty cord between the lights show. More than once...and much to my dismay...she would get almost through a string of lights only to take them off and start over. I just kept following her around the tree, hoping, hoping, hoping that the light stringing misery would come to an end. When it was time for the ornaments, they had to be placed "just so." Symmetrically. Evenly. No two colors or ornaments of the same next to each other. This will all come back to haunt me in my adult life, as you will soon see. I called my parents house yesterday to talk to them about something and when my dad answered he said they were "trimming the tree." When he handed the phone to my mom she sounded frustrated. I jokingly asked her if she had sworn yet while stringing the lights and she quickly answered, "Not yet, but I'm close!"

So...this week finds me also decorating for the Christmas season. I started yesterday and my plan was to take out the items we would be using this year, get all the boxes put back in storage and start decorating. However, I have a five year old little girl. Let me rephrase...I have an impatient five year old little girl. Once she saw all the decorations and knew that the box containing the little tree that goes in her room was just sitting in her room unopened, my day went awry. After hearing countless times, "Mommy, can we decorate my room yet?" I finally had to give in and focus on our little princess's room. We put up her tree, strung icicle lights from her doll house bed, swapped out some of her little knick-knacks for Christmas ones and, while we were at it, cleaned and organized her room. It looks pretty darn cute, if I do say so myself. Of course Parker asked last night when HIS room was going to get decorated and I promised I would do it today. Again, it took me most of the afternoon...putting up his tree, swapping out knick-knacks, hanging icicle lights, cleaning (although his was more organized than Faith's so that was a huge time-saver).

By the end of this evening, I am tired, frustrated and still not done decorating. Sad thing is, we don't even have our tree yet. Then, after working on our downstairs mantle by decorating it with our stockings, Scott informed me that if our tree is going to be upstairs, our stockings need to be on the upstairs mantle because that is where Santa will be delivering all the gifts. "But...", I said, "We had them on the downstairs mantle last year." Scott replied, "Yes...but we also had two trees last year...one up and one down...so it was okay to hang the stockings downstairs. This year we plan to have only one tree and you want it upstairs." Shoot. So, just when I thought I was done decorating downstairs, I will be switching the stockings. My plan is to finish decorating upstairs tonight so tomorrow I will be done. Well...except for the stocking swapping...and the tree...which we plan to get on Sunday afternoon.

Anyway, I'm starting to feel my genetic disorder kicking in. I have not used a bad word...yet....but as my mom said earlier, "I'm close!" I have not made either one of my kids hold the end of the lights while I string them on the tree. I have not made them hang the ornaments symmetrically on their trees in their rooms. I have, however, found myself not being able to find just the right spot for things or finding just the right thing for a spot. URGH! I'm slow to decorate for the holidays and honestly, it's all because I feel like everything needs to be perfect (see beginning paragraph). That's impossible! Simply impossible! The only one who is perfect is God. Although He knows me better than anyone and I'm sure he understands the genetic disorder that I have and appreciates me doing my best to make our home pretty for His son's birthday and for my family's enjoyment. Hmmmm...that was a dumb thing to type...decorating for Jesus? Jesus just wants us to know him and decorate our hearts with Him. He could care less about the rest of it. I do, however, want our home to look well pulled together for this wonderful season without looking like Christmas threw up in our house. Hopefully by tomorrow I will be out of my decorating misery...and that I will still not have said a bad word. I don't know, though...genetics are a difficult thing to control!

Peace.
Jeanine