Christmas
2014
Dear
ones, near and far-
We
hope you are battening down the hatches and preparing for your own year end
celebrations. We’re all grownups here,
right? So I’m not going to pretend I’m living a perfect Christmas Tale. In some end-of-year karmic punch-line, small
stuff keeps going wrong. This morning
alone, the Christmas tree fell over and the sink packed up.
I,
for one, am stressed out, unprepared and very behind. The Stollen will have to be store bought. I will try not to raise my voice when Emily
steals the ribbon and sticky tape AGAIN.
I will be encouraging and positive when Alex makes weak attempts at his
holiday homework. I will be loving and
affirming when Andrew announces that Amazon won’t deliver 3 key gifts until
mid-January. In fact, I will be a model
of good cheer when a different courier tells me he attempted delivery at 23:08 at
the office and freaked out a security guard who refused to sign for a suspicious
looking package.
As
a result, I am losing any semblance of perspective and heading into meltdown
territory. Someone extremely close to me
sent a letter moments before I firmed up plans to run away and leave them all
to it. This was the point at which a
Travel Lodge somewhere off the M25 with a fully loaded Kindle seemed a viable
option. In her letter, she counseled me not to worry
about the curling ribbon or the height of the tree. She reminded me to step
back and think, “its not perfect but “F£$% it, its good enough”. She remarked that I am an accomplished mother,
a good wife and a hard worker. She reiterated
the importance of perspective and laughter.
So I’d like
to share with you an outtake from our recent family photo session. Its not going to make the album or sit in a
frame but it captures a moment suspended between stressing that the kids supper
was burned, that I’d straightened my hair before stepping out into the rain,
that we were running late, that I was hovering dangerously close to a work
deadline and that making nice for the camera was truly the last thing I needed
to be doing that Thursday evening. What I
hadn’t planned or timetabled or micromanaged was that we would laugh so much
during this photo session and that, in itself, was a precious gift.
On
the back of that somewhat wonky and completely “us” image, I’d like to wish Merry
imperfect holidays to all of you. Don’t
let Martha Stewart or her evil English stepsister Kirstie Allsopp into your
head. Do not attempt a yuletide makeover
for your home using recycled Cornetto wrappers or whatever lunacy those two are
advocating. May it be whatever it is in
whatever form it takes. May you not
dream of running away from it but be in it and with it. May it catch you off guard bringing you increments
of unplanned peace and joy.
All
our love and best wishes for a happy Christmas and a promising start to 2015.
Cynthia,
Andrew, Alex and Emily (captured on film with Nadine, Fred and Eric Coleman) xxx
