The Ashland County Mental Health and Recovery Board has been sharing words of wisdom for the holiday season. Their #1 hint? “It’s important to take the pressure off of yourself so you can focus on enjoying your time with friends and family. Don’t set high expectations, because you may be let down if the holidays aren’t ‘perfect.’”
I’ve always been a “let’s make a memory” person when it comes to Christmas, often with high expectations for family togetherness. With two young boys, we traveled to camp where Christmas trees were available – all we had to do was cut them down and transport them. After one of those trips, I memorably cut the top off our tree and then salvaged it with the help of duct tape. One year we invited four other preschool families to our home for a cookie decorating party, cutting out cookies on the kitchen table and decorating them in the dining room. That was a remarkable afternoon.
The year we acquired the Kroc Center property, we strolled the streets around Cook Field, caroling and distributing cookies to our new neighbors. For our first (daytime) Christmas parade in Ashland, I handed out bells to a group of a dozen kids, promoting the Christmas Kettle Campaign of The Salvation Army. What was I thinking?
By the time I had grandchildren, I was stoked. We were going to make amazing memories together at Christmas if it killed me! We’ve created ornaments, decorated cookies, toured the Christmas lights, visited Santa, shopped at the dollar store for mom and dad, and even decorated a gingerbread house or two.
With a free evening beckoning last week, I picked up the lovely Madelyn Simone (9) and the delightful and determined Elizabeth Holiday (4) for some memory-making Christmas fun, no babies allowed. We’d make gingerbread houses and Rice Krispie treats shaped into candy canes. They could help me put up decorations, and we’d eat supper at our house before it was time for Madelyn’s dance lesson. What a wonderful evening we would have together.
Well . . . As we opened the gingerbread house kits, the first hint of trouble came as Lizzie prepared to take a big bite out of the roof. “No, don’t eat that, Lizzie,” I quickly said. Within minutes, frosting was coming out both ends of Madelyn’s frosting bag, while Lizzie was methodically eating the candy dog bones that were to decorate her gingerbread dog house. We managed to get the sides of the houses to stand up, and Lizzie stuck the candy dog on her doghouse door, only to eat that as well when my back was turned. While their creations looked nothing like the images on the boxes, at least the gingerbread didn’t break.
I put the butter and marshmallows in the pan for our second project, and as I turned around, there was Lizzie, having shed her clothing, ready to take a bath – not on my agenda, but OK, what could it hurt? I ran the water, got her settled, and by the time I returned to the kitchen, it was smoky and the marshmallows were toast. What an Epic Fail of a night.
Time for Plan B. How about a Christmas light tour and the mall food court for Chinese? Even though it wasn’t what I planned, nor was it what I expected, I will always remember the look of wonder on Elizabeth’s face, as each display brought an exuberant “O my goodness,” “Wow,” or my favorite, “Hallelujah!” Sweet and sour chicken and lo mein never tasted so good.
It’s good to plan. As Yogi Berra said, “If you don’t know where you are going, you’ll end up someplace else.” Yet especially at Christmas, the “someplace else” may just create its own “Hallelujah” memory.
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