An epiphany...
...of sorts. I was driving to work yesterday, thinking about all the things I needed to accomplish by Christmas. How I haven’t baked anything special, I still haven’t finished tweaking the Christmas tree just right, and though I’m fortunate to have gifts to give, the time to wrap them still has not been found. So I’m thinking about how, just once, I would like to have a Christmas where I could pull of everything gracefully ...with Martha Stewart-ish aplomb. And then I thought that maybe that would not be in my best interest. Maybe it is the chaos, the missing tape while wrapping, the lost ingredient while baking at the 11th hour (and I mean, quite literally 2300 hours) and all the other little snafus that keep me focused on the ‘real meaning of Christmas.’ Perhaps I would be too quick to find false consolation in beautifully wrapped gifts and lovely gingerbread stars decorated with homemade butter cream icing topped with silver (yes, silver!) sugar from Williams-Sonoma.

And sitting in front of a (clean for once) and well decorated hearth, sipping mulled cider and listening to The Nutcracker , my heart and mind would be a million miles from the true consolation....Christus natus est