Christmas according to "Designing Women"

I'm still on the "Designing Women" Christmas kick.  I love their Christmas "theology".  Maybe I just love how their words, sentiments, and southern drawl sink deep into my thoughts at Christmas.

We've been acting a little bit childish about things that didn't measure up to Christmases past.  Have we forgotten how lucky we are to have those Christmases in the first place? -  Julie Sugarbaker 

No matter how old I get, nothing is ever gonna measure up to my entire family sitting in front of the fire on Christmas Eve singing "Silent Night" and Daddy reading from the Bible and Harold Thomas sitting on his lap, me on one side, Momma on the other.  I have to be grateful I had that.  Nothing is ever gonna be better than that. -  Charlene

Looking at my "little girls" who do not want baby dolls, play dough, or anything too pink under the tree marked with their name, I'm reminded how quickly each Christmas sneaks up ... explodes in festive ritual ... and then is packed away for another year.

It's not just my reflections of my own girls that fly about my head like sugarplum fairies.  More often than not I find myself replaying Christmas scenes from my own childhood.  Waking up to find a 7-up Machine complete with glass 7-up bottle, a necklace dangling precariously on the live Christmas tree, candle light services, "fake" reindeer sounds signifying it was time to go to bed, divinity that made my stomach hurt, a homemade Christmas dress - usually matching my little sister.  Such sweet memories.  Made sweeter only by time ... the absence of a Momma who now lives in Heaven ... and the family pictures on my buffet that signify I am no longer a child.

I've been troubled by having the "perfect" Christmas for some time ...playing my own role by trying to have just the right balance of Bible and shopping and tradition and surprise.  This year, gathering my children together for the first time in months, is the perfect Christmas.

However, nothing will ever replace those Christmases past.  How blessed I am to have a whole Treasury of memories that I can unfold, unpack, and unload every Christmas season.  I am rich!  However ... enjoying the present ... (forgive the upcoming "pun") as the PRESENT ... the gift of right now that will become another rich memory to unpack for years to come ... that's really the gift, isn't it?  Enjoying right now as it is.  Trusting that God has divinely intervened in any number of situations in my life to make this Christmas just exactly what He desires it to be.

After all, I have a sneaking suspicion that were it left to me to "plan" the first Christmas ... the Christmas that God disguised Himself in the form of a baby ... I would have made it much grander ... much more ... sparkly ... much ... more!  And yet, in it's simplicity it has made a great impact.

Go and enjoy ... the PRESENT!