After a particularly grueling week of work, home, and whatever I could fit in between, I found myself ready to completely check out for the weekend. It was a random Friday afternoon in November just after lunchtime, so I had muster up the stamina to stick it out for a few more hours before socially acceptable to leave the week behind. To give myself a quick mental break, with the promise that I would re-focus in 5 minutes, I did what 99.9% of humans would do – I picked up my phone to scroll through my Facebook news feed.
I saw the usual over-shares in mom groups, a gazillion pictures from the massive snowfall from the day before, and a couple posts that real-life friends of mine shared that I took .35 seconds of my day to give a blue thumbs-up.
I wasn’t expecting to see anything life changing, but that’s when these things happen – when you’re not expecting it. Out of nowhere, a feeling of joy – perhaps even mild glee – came over me. It was an advertisement for Christmas pajamas. MATCHING CHRISTMAS PAJAMAS FOR THE WHOLE FAMILY.
You probably don’t know me, but for the last three or four years, my husband and I chose to not fully embrace, or appreciate, the Christmas spirit. We skipped on the tree, decorating, pretty much all of it except for spending time with our families. In fact, we made a decision to celebrate Festivus. We proudly displayed our aluminum pole, aired our grievances, and pondered participating in the 
feats of strength. The effort of putting up a tree, decorating, mustering up any sort of spirit was a lot of work, and quite frankly, I didn’t want to have to clean it all up when it was over. It’s like the day after your wedding – all this build up for one day, and then it’s gone.
I made a commitment to myself that this year will be different. My daughter will be 15 months old on Christmas Day. It’s time to start some traditions for our family so my daughter doesn’t grow up to be a weirdo who celebrates made-up holidays from 90’s sitcoms.
First up will be those pajamas. My husband does not know this yet, nor will he be happy about it.
Next, you’ll be impressed that we’re already spending our evenings admiring our fake tree adorned with white lights (don’t get me started on multi-colored vs. white lights – you will lose) while we watch the latest episode of Puppy Dog Pals and count down the minutes until bedtime.
Then, we’ll put a wreath on the front door to give the illusion that we are real adults (we are not). I’m even considering hiring a company to put lights on the house. Considering, not totally committed, but maybe I should just go all in at this point. I’ve already gone too far.
And if that’s not enough, we’re going to see Santa at least twice this year – one of which is the St. Louis Moms Blog Donuts with Santa event (buy your tickets here!) That’s right. Two opportunities for my child to scream while a strange man in a red suit and white beard holds her for a photo (honestly, I’m not super excited about it, but we’ll give it a try).
This is the start of new Christmases for us. When I was single, and newly married and childless, the minimalist approach was right at the time. Now that we have our little one, we want her to experience the magic of the season and have the experiences that leave lasting memories – hopefully good ones.
It’s too early to say for sure, but in 2018, I’m declaring that the Grinch will not be stealing our Christmas this year, or any in the near future. Bring on the decorations, caroling, gingerbread houses, and the cheesy Hallmark movies.
And if anyone wants to bring me one of those wine-a-day advent calendars, I would be happy to give it a home for the holidays.
