Well I’ll Be Damned…it IS the Simple Things

I lost two weeks of my life. It’s true. When my body decided to take an unplanned—and unapproved– vacation it erased, or at least blurred, two weeks of my life…the two weeks I normally reserve for holiday preparations. So now I am constantly surprised by the date and I feel way behind on family holiday hoopla.

Seriously, it’s days away from Christmas and I have a month worth of things to accomplish.

I’m not talking about shopping. Shopping for the holidays is my least favorite and most unimportant thing to do. I’d be happy to forget the shopping part every year.

What I have missed is the romantic and sentimental side of the holiday season. By now I would have

• gone out to see the holiday lights at least twice
• window shopped with my family (not the same thing as actual shopping) on my favorite street while drinking a cop of hot cocoa
• watched our favorite holiday movie (OK, apparently I have done this but it was two days after my seizure and I don’t remember any of it so despite the fact that I know the movie by heart I have not actually watched it this year—in my opinion)
• taken photos of my kids by the tree
• listened to my favorite holiday CD in my car while singing at the top of my lungs. For those not paying attention: grand mal seizure = no driving for several months = no singing alone in the car—for the record, it’s not the same singing in the car while it’s parked in the garage.
• meandered through the local gourmet grocery store planning elaborate holiday meals that I know we would enjoy cooking but would eat with regret since a fancy meal is never as fulfilling as the traditional comfort of homemade mac and cheese eaten in pajamas while the snow falls outside.

And there are more things I would have done, all of them equally simple and seemingly insignificant. It turns out meaningful holiday traditions are not in the grand gestures. The things that make the season bright are the subtle shifts and unassuming things we do for ourselves to bring the holidays home.

Just another moment of clarity in this time of unexpected chaos.

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