this wasn't in the plan |but life is still pretty good

My favorite Christmas book is The Best Christmas Pageant Ever by Barbara Robinson. I love that even though the pageant performed in the story isn't perfect, it's wonderful.

This year there's been a number of things that I've wanted to do in preparation for Christmas, but have not. I wanted to do more Christ-related activities with Bug, but if you ask him what Christmas is all about, he gives the right answer, so it's all good. I wanted to do more craft projects, and create more homemade gifts. I wanted to send out Christmas cards (still may) and I wanted to have my house decorated earlier in the month. Normally, not getting around to things like this would bother me... a lot. This year, part of me is waiting for my meltdown, but a bigger part of me is saying that it doesn't matter. Christmas doesn't need all of those things to be perfect.

Expectations have a lot to do with it, but so does attitude. I think I learned at Thanksgiving (because in retrospect, so much went wrong, but it was still so perfect) that lower expectations make a big difference. However, it's been my experience that lower expectations can lead to laziness, which is where attitude comes in. This year I've decided that yes, there were many things I wanted to do, but I did not expect them to all get done. So I tried my hardest, really I did, but everything on my list will not get crossed off. And that's okay, because even with all its "flaws", this Christmas can still be wonderful.