Christmas is fast approaching and I am trying my hardest to stay calm. I want to fully enjoy this year. I want to enjoy every day, but Christmas- the whole holiday season- is my favorite time of year. I love the chill in the air. I love Christmas music. I love red and green. I love decorating for it. I love finding the perfect gift for someone I love. I just love it.I inherited from my mom some wonderful things, and this love of the season (and all of the lovely music that comes with it!) is one of them. However I also got from her a worry about it. And as I have aged I have lost much of the wonder of it all. I know that is normal. I understand that. But I want to recapture the wonder through the eyes of my children. I don't want them to see me during this season as a jumble of stress. I don't want to yell because things aren't perfect (how could they ever be?)
This year is a whole lot more stressful than some in the past (not including this year.) We are not broke, but money is a lot less abundant than it has been in recent memory. I usually have a good portion of the gifts taken care of and squirreled away by now. I don't have that this year. We are looking to make it a more modest season. Maybe we'll even get a little more into the reason we celebrate this time of year. I would love to have teach the girls (and myself) a little more about Hanukkah, the Winter Solstice, and the meaning of Christmas. There are beautiful stories associated with all of these holidays.

The girls know that money is tight, and are looking forward to handmade gifts from both of us. Gwennie wants one of these Dala horses. I don't yet know what I am making them, since last year I made them fairy dolls like these from Magic Cabin. I really need to get going on something.