Checked the List?

Well, I'm done with the actual present-buying phase...now I still have to hit the Dollar Tree for all various accoutrements to wrap said presents, then actually wrap the aforementioned presents, run to the grocery store(s) for a few last minute things, load up the little car for my trek over to my parents' place for Christmas Eve sleep-over, and be ready to go over there tomorrow early afternoon (by which time I will hopefully be all done with all of this and actually prepared to relax a bit between Christmas Eve service and Christmas morning).

 

Dear God, give me enough time and sanity to do it all!

Maybe it would seem so gloomily daunting if a peek out the window didn't yield the sight of a gloomy gray sky and temps that seem to be dipping by the hour. Not exactly my idea of happy weather for Christmas. For me, this kind of weather inspires nothing but the desire to curl up in a little ball around a HUGE cup of scalding hot liquid with a book and a blanket. Or maybe swap out the book for a good ole couch sesh involving a marathon run of my favorite Bravo shows. Or just a nice, burrowed DEEEEEP under the covers nap. 

Whatever the case, I'm sure you get the point that I really, really don't want to have to tackle the rest of my list. Yes, I very much want all of those tasks completed and crossed off, but I don't want to have to  be the one actually doing them. So where are Santa and his elves when you need them?

Maybe they took off when the government went on strike, and they never came back? Maybe they, like the rest of the world, have taken everything online and no longer actually leave the North Pole?  Maybe they've gotten so stressed out that they've gone off to find some inner peace at a retreat and are no longer reachable by traditional (or modern) means...in which case, I guess we're all screwed, as I doubt any of us would actually be able to achieve that higher plain to which he and said elves have ascended. At least, not in any way considered legal by the local governing authorities.

 

But I digress. 

My point here, is not ultimately complain, but to remind myself (and anyone who happens to be reading this) that amidst all of the last minute craziness that seems like it will never get done, we still have time to actually enjoy the season. Even if it's taking just a minute here and there to click over to YouTube and watch the musical paradox of David Bowie and Bing Crosby harmonize over Little Drummer Boy or shove a candy cane up your nose to win a drooly grin from the baby across the dining room in the restaurant so crazy with glassy-eyed shoppers. Tune it out, and listen for the magic. Watch for the magic, and you'll find it. Sprinkled here and there, like the glitter that somehow ends up stuck to everything, picked up from God-knows-where, since you haven't used glitter on anything since that one time you just had to try the gel-glitter eyeliner. Mistake. And one you'd live down, too, if not for the magic of the Internet...

Find the season, and you'll find the joy. 

Put that on your list and circle it. It's not something you'll want to cross off the list...