Normally, I'm not a big Christmas fanatic. I love giving gifts, for sure, but I hate all the planning and drama and pressure the holiday represents. (I'm much more of a Thanksgiving girl—food and rest and no real decorating or other traditions? I'm in.)
Decorating the tree seems like a chore. Decorating the rest of the house seems like a chore. Finding the perfect gift for everyone is fun, but the pressure to do it in a compressed time frame isn't. And don't get me started on the pressure to give other people lists of gifts I want. (I have no idea what I want, and I'll probably just buy it if I think of it.) Then there's the traveling to and fro, and the fact that I haven't gotten to spend a Christmas morning with my daughter in years because she (totally understandably and I'm fine with this, really) wants to spend the morning opening presents with her little brother at her dad's house.
But this year is different, and I find that I'm actually really excited about Christmas. We decorated BEFORE Thanksgiving, because my mother was able to be here and we had an early Christmas celebration with her. We decorated our dining room, which we don't normally do. The presents are wrapped as soon as they come in the house, so we can enjoy the pile of brightly-wrapped gifts under the tree for longer. We aren't traveling anywhere, so I get to just relax and enjoy Christmas day in my comfy clothes in my own house, instead of worrying about getting places on time, and being social. And, best of all, my daughter has asked to spend Christmas Eve and Day here with us, which makes me happier than I ever thought it would.
So this year, I'm leaning into Christmas. I'm celebrating more, listening to Christmas music more, admiring the tree, enjoying wrapping gifts, all of it. Look, we made it to the end of a tough year. We're healthy and whole, and together, and there's really not much more that I could ask for at this point. And I'm going to try to pin down what it is about this year that makes me so happy and see if I can't incorporate more of whatever that is into future Christmases. Because there's no point letting a "normal" year steal the joy that I'm feeling this year at Christmas.