I learned - no, RELEARNED last year that Christmas isn't the big tree and all the ornaments and decorations. I thought Christmas 2007 would be very bah-humbug because I was missing like 90% of all my beautiful decorations and lights and my big tree etc, but I was wrong.
We had been trying to sell out home here in Florida so we could move back to North Carolina so, we did what all the Realtors tell you to do...un-clutter thyself! That is to clear out unused / less frequently used items and put them in storage etc so the home shows better. So away went excess books, CDs, DVDs, most knick-knacks, husband's woodworking tools from the garage and of course, all the Christmas stuff...it’s early spring, we'll certainly sell the house before Christmas and be up in NC for Christmas!
We loaded everything we could fit in to our 18' trailer and took it up to NC to store at my mother-in-law's. We actually made two trips and even left the trailer there the second time around.
In late October we headed up to PA to see two of our grandchildren for their birthdays and we would stop in and visit with Mom on the way up and back down again since NC was like the half-way point. On the way back down I'm thinking, time's getting pretty close and still no offers on the house...maybe I should bring some Christmas stuff back down.
That was a hard choice to make because Christmas is my favorite holiday of the year and I have collected quite a lot of Christmas decorations through the years. But what did I absolutely have to have? How many boxes could I pack in the truck and still close the roll cover? What really made Christmas for me? I decided that I didn't need my 7' tree because that would mean all the boxes of lights and ornaments so I'll settle on the 4' ‘Charlie Brown’ pine tree that I usually use for the porch! I also knew I had to have at least most of my snow people collection and a wreath for the door and the scatter rugs.
For the first time since forever, there would be no lights and decorations for the yard...no candy canes lining the walkway, no tree for every room of the house, no collection of Christmas CDs and movies to watch and play as I chose...just a scarcely decorated, lonely, barely has enough branches, short and narrow fake pine tree along with about half of my snow people...:-(
You know what happened? Just like in some old classic movie, Christmas came anyway! We decorated with what little we brought back, we had a wonderful 'Christmas dinner' on the 23rd with the oldest son and his family who live in FL. Even our 2 older granddaughters were very pleased with the scaled back gifts from us this year and there's a new grandchild due in Feb and the little Charlie Brown tree was actually very, very pretty.
Christmas isn't the lights and the ornaments. It's not the pretty presents under the tree. Christmas is family and being together and a feeling of contentment with your life at the end of a busy or hectic or bad year. Christmas is knowing that all things can start anew, that all that truly matters in life, is right with the world and the promise of what the New Year can bring.
I think the song really should be "It's beginning to FEEL a lot like Christmas."
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Back to Boot Camp biz...
I got a sign up on Sunday - my neighbor Dawn that I've been helping with her memory album about her husband.
We finished the album Sunday afternoon and she was talking about having to drag herself out to the mall in Crystal River because her granddaughter wanted the original soundtrack for Twilight and it was at f.y.e. Knowing that we have f.y.e. in our mall, I told her I could save her the trip so we went online to my Boot Camp Foundation mall and made the purchase. Then I showed her a little bit about the mall and she wanted to know how she could get one! We signed her right up and I actually was thinking just a Personal Savings mall for her because she's in her 70s but she upgraded herself to a Business mall because she wants to share it with others. Go figure!
Wow - that was just too easy...has it really been that easy all along? What had I been missing? Or maybe I wasn't missing anything but rather adding too much into it - trying too hard - talking too much and just listening or showing too little...hhmmm.
So, now it's go back to square one with anyone I've met or talked to. SHOW THEM THE MALL. People are generally lazy and they'll tell you what you want to hear so sure, they'll say they'll go take a look - but they won't or at least not the majority. So, when ever possible, I'll be on line with them at the same time and show them the mall.
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