The first Sunday of Advent has come and gone, and for us that means the Christmas CDs are close to the stereo, the Christmas mugs have been put into use for our weekend morning coffee and it has dawned on us that we have a lot to do in the next few weeks.
I just finished my "to do" list and it is frightening long. Topping the list is "baking" and that's the thing I dread most each year. I love to cook; I do not love to bake. Everything has to be just so ... quantities are measured properly and I don't bake often enough to know what substitutions I can make or what I can just throw in for fun. But it's Christmas and I follow the example set for me by my mother - I bake. And because I started baking the first year we were married and set that as part of the Christmas tradition for my son, I'm now on the hook.
And then the "to do" list continues with shopping to be finished, what needs to be cleaned and polished, who's room is needed when, what appointments have to be accommodated and even what other lists have to be made closer to Christmas. It's going to be a busy three weeks.
Yet it's going to be a wonderful three weeks. In amongst all the chores that have to be done are some things I'm really looking forward to. The kid will be home for a brief visit this coming week so we can put up the tree. Jim and I are going to a Christmas concert in a couple of weeks. We are going to a neighbourhood wine and cheese party tomorrow. The day before my sister and son arrive for Christmas I have the day off and an appointment for a pedicure and facial. And I have yet to shop for Jim, which usually entails heading for some of the smaller towns around us, with their neat little stores, to see what I can find for his stocking.
Christmas is less than a month away and while I'm not prepared for the event itself, I'm more than prepared for the season. I have totally bought into the North American ideal of Christmas - the music, the decorations, the lights, the tree, the gifts, the smells, the feelings. I'm no Martha Stewart, but I do my best to make my surroundings as appealingly Christmassy as I can (without being tacky, of course) for my family and friends and for myself. I love it all.
This intense focus on Christmas does, unfortunately, have a downside. I love the build up to Christmas, but I have found myself disappointed on Christmas morning. As of Christmas, it's all over. The anticipation is gone and somehow everything after that is anticlimactic. It's stupid, of course - I know that. That one day is the reason for the entire season.
So that is my challenge - to appreciate not only the Christmas season (which is, really, the cultural holiday that Christmas has become) but the day itself. There is so much to enjoy if I could get over the feeling that it's all over just as the day is beginning.
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