Perfection

I was reading a blog post by a knitter yesterday.  Stephanie says:

Perfecting things doesn't perfect people. Even if you have the perfect napkin rings, a really beautiful gift, eighty-seven candles and a fabulous side dish. Give up now. I promise it doesn't change squat about people's happiness or ability to get along.

Sometimes, at Christmas, we try very hard to get everything done.  We work to buy the perfect gift, wrap it "just so," put up all the great decorations, send out personalized Christmas cards -- we try to do it all.

For instance, when my oldest son was a toddler, we worked hard to prepare a great Christmas.  He opened the first gift, loved it, and started to play with it.  It was all he needed, and yet there were other gifts to open, other things to be done.  "Hey, Grant, stop having fun and come over here and open gifts!" 

There are some things I do at Christmas because I really enjoy doing them.  I love to play with the table decorations for dinner.  I find joy in it, and my family usually notices that it looks nice.  It adds to our dinner. 

I don't think they notice how I wrap gifts.  I don't always (ever, usually) have the time to wrap the gifts perfectly, but I've decided it doesn't matter.  I let it go.

Why struggle with how the nativity sets are arranged when my younger son gets great pleasure in arranging them?  I give him that job.

What I can do to "prepare" for the holiday rarely changes (if ever) my family, but I can let my family change the way we "prepare" for the holiday.  It works better that way. 

Maybe one of the ways to keep Christ in Christmas is to love your loved ones, as they are.  Enjoy them.  Let them enjoy you.