These fun little Nutter Butter Santa cookies represent the extent of my Christmas baking, and that's really okay. The tree went up over the course of a few days, thanks to Laura who assembled it earlier this week and then another day after school dragged out the boxes with decorations in. The lights went on Friday night, the ornaments yesterday. I enjoyed looking at every ornament this year, remembering who they came from or which of the girls had made them. No presents are wrapped yet. In fact, I am not even sure if I have all the gifts I need to have by Christmas. Cards are not ready. Liz is drawing our card this year--in case you don't get one, it's a picture of a fairy (or an elf?) sitting on the ledge of a rectangular box and it says "Merry Christmas." Have not taken a photo of the kids or of the family to send out with the cards, so that might not happen. Also I have not written a Christmas letter like usual.
It's not at all that I don't want to do these things. The difference is that this year I have done some things in the Advent Season that in the past I did not take enough time for. Laura and I went to the Madrigal Dinner on Dec. 5 in which the Senior High commons was transformed into a castle and we were there for the feast. We, of course, had a band concert for Liz and a choir concert for Laura. The other night we went to see a performance of "White Christmas," which was so well done and inspiring. We also adopted a little girl who needed presents under her tree, had a Secret Santa event at the hospice office, and went to a church potluck today and sat with people we didn't know but now do. Tomorrow Liz and I are helping with the Confirmation project of adopting a family who is having a hard time this season, shopping for and wrapping gifts to give them from the proceeds of one single bake sale held a couple weeks ago.
The rest of it will all fall into place. We'll see wrapped presents under our tree on Christmas morning, news and wishes of the season will go into the mailboxes of friends and families (maybe extending the season a little beyond the Dec 25 date). We will travel to southern Wi and spend time with our families and will rejuvenate our relationships and our connections with them in a whirlwind of Christmas spirit. There's a lot to appreciate about the season of Advent, and this feels way better to me than it has in the past...
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