Growing up, I never thought Christmas seemed quite right if there wasn’t snow on the ground. Everyone dreams of a white Christmas, after all. I distinctly remember my first holiday without snow and thinking the dead grass was unbecoming of such a day. Well, “unbecoming” probably wasn’t the actual word I thought, but you get the point.
Fast-forward to many years later. I remember white-knuckling it while I drove my Honda Civic to my grandparents’ house for a family gathering. A snowstorm hit during my 2-hour drive, and it quickly went from bad to worse about halfway there. I discovered that in some circumstances, a white Christmas was also unbecoming.
That’s how the holidays tend to go, isn’t it? We build them up in our minds — picture-perfect scenes borrowed from movies or memories of holidays past. We imagine a beautifully decorated house that smells like homemade cookies, and a family laughing and singing carols.
And then reality arrives. The Christmas tree topples over. The flight gets canceled. The batteries were not included. A mishap turns dinner into a fast-food drive-thru feast. That’s just to name a few.
But, somewhere between the expectations and the chaos is where the real holiday actually happens. It’s in the small moments that never make the greeting cards. It’s watching the family dog sniff out her present under the tree, followed later by the cat leaving a gift behind the tree.
It’s the fluorescent green Felix the Cat stuffed toy that gets regifted every year. Or receiving gifts labeled “To Kotton,” because my brother-in-law forgot how to spell my name. It’s eating Chinese food on Christmas Day with my future wife while wearing homemade ugly Christmas sweaters.
I’ve learned that Christmas doesn’t need snow to feel magical. It doesn’t need perfection, either. What we need is to give ourselves a little grace, and have a little patience and the willingness to embrace the season despite its flaws or imperfections.
Either way, it still counts as Christmas. Or Hanukkah. Or Kwanzaa. Or whatever holiday you celebrate this season. And maybe that’s the point. On behalf of Illinois Country Living magazine and our extended electric cooperative family, we wish you a happy holiday season.
