HAVE A PERFECTLY IMPERFECT CHRISTMAS

Article by Jim Fay

What was your best Christmas as a kid? Was it the one where there was a lot of stress about a perfect meal elegantly served—on time—to a perfectly dressed family? Or was it the one where the dog pulled the turkey off the stove and dragged it away through the dog door? There was no perfect meal that day. Everyone rolled with the punches. They rolled up their sleeves and worked together in the kitchen to salvage a makeshift meal.

The beauty of that memory is not in perfection and organization, but in remembering the joy of being together and doing things together. It was the laughter. It was one of those days when the choices were to laugh or to cry, so you all laughed it off and enjoyed one another. It brought you all together in a different way.

Holidays are times for enjoying one another. We are not suggesting that you purposely feed the turkey to the pets, but we strongly suggest that an imperfect day with little stress will create better memories of loving relationships. We wish you a perfectly imperfect holiday season.

An article by Jim Fay, author, teacher, and parent educator