I have always loved that quiet time on Christmas Eve when everything’s done and – even if there may not be peace on earth – there’s peace in the house.
Everything is done. The shopping, wrapping, baking, decorating, and all the running around has ended. And if it didn’t get done — well it’s too late now.
This year was different as they all seem to be now that the children are older and on their own. We stayed home up north for Christmas this year. We did go to Virginia Beach for Thanksgiving and celebrated Christmas with the southern bunch the Saturday after Thanksgiving. I think that helped with the pre-Christmas pressure this year as we had to get half of our shopping and preparation done a few weeks ago.
I think I’ve always enjoyed this peacefulness though even when the children were younger. It was a crazy, busy time but I wouldn’t change a thing about it even if I could. There were the Christmas concerts, sometimes at three different schools. There was baking cookies to be brought in to class. I would send out Christmas cards and each day after checking the mail hear, “Did we send one to the Cabral’s?!”
There was the Christmas shopping and wondering whether or not you should get one more thing. It also never seemed to fail that when struggling to find stocking stuffer ideas I would always buy more than could fit in the stocking.
Every weekend seemed to be booked with something. There was either the Church Fair or the company Christmas party. And work was crazy as it seemed to take three or four days of extra work just to try and give everybody the one day off for Christmas.
Then to top it off I would usually develop a cold as you’re meeting so many people while you’re not getting the rest you need.
(Sighs) Yep, yep, yep!
But then… it’s over. The house is quiet.
When the kids were younger I would enjoy that quiet time around midnight. We had come from the Christmas Eve Church service and maybe had some friends over for a bit. We had changed into Christmas Jammie’s and read “Twas The Night Before Christmas” and “Polar Express.” Goodnight kisses had been delivered and it was quiet. Priscilla and I would sometimes nap before we had to get everything out. Make sure our rascals were sleeping and not snooping.
As I said, it’s different now that they’ve grown up but I still enjoy that quiet time. It’s really an opportunity to pause and look at how everything has turned out. Pretty good I think.
I hope you find a quiet time like that this Christmas where you can sit, relax and look back at all the experiences you’ve had. May you find peace.
Christmas blog memory.
Leave a Reply