With the new puppies (see last week’s post) and year-end chaos, we only got Christmas lights up on our home this past weekend. I could not help be remember this post and thought I would make this a “flashback” week.
If you know any single dads, please forward this on to them for a bit of encouragement!
ORIGINALLY POSTED DECEMBER 08, 2014
My son loves Christmastime – and not even the whole gift-getting thing. He enjoys the season, the decorations, the trees, the food, and even a few of the songs. He really wants to learn to snowboard this winter, so the season will be full.
Unfortunately, neither of us received the gift of decorating. So, when Thanksgiving comes and goes, we trudge up to the self-storage unit and pull out a couple plastic bins filled with Christmas decorations. Tree ornaments (including a Christmas pickle ornament?!?), a partial nativity scene, several balled up bunches of lights, five or six random decorations, two nutcrackers, and Christmas place mats. Not exactly Martha Stewart territory.
I do not have a Pinterest account to get the latest decorating ideas. Even if I did, no way would I find the required glue guns, glitter, styrofoam rings, fake holly, and gingerbread men anywhere at home. When you look at our Christmas tree, ornaments usually occupy 15 percent of the surface area like a herd of sheep bunched up for protection. That’s how we roll.
If you share my decorating skills, consider the following ideas for the season:
Suck it up and decorate. This is not about you – it is about your kids. Think back to the holidays with your family. Do you remember the decoration your parents told you to never touch? Do you remember the ornament you always got to hang on the tree? Do you remember re-arranging nativity pieces? Your home may not have made the cover of “Good Housekeeping’s Best Decorated Home” but you still have your memories. Make those same memories for your kids.
Use old decorations from your marriage. Out with the old and in with the new may not cut it. My son has strong memories – good memories – associated with a few of the decorations in those plastic bins. Throwing out or “losing” them will not aid in the healing process. Certainly many psychologists have written well-researched papers on why this is, but all I know is my son spends time looking at certain ornaments on the tree and telling me about the good memories they bring. Seems a bit Scrooge-ish to bury those memories.
Marry someone who can decorate. Just seeing if you are paying attention.
Build up your decoration stockpile. Figure out an annual ritual to build up the decorations in your home. Maybe your son likes superhero themed nutcrackers. Maybe your daughter loves nativity scenes. Set a dollar amount for each kid or the household and go out to get something new together and build up your arsenal and build some new memories for all of you.
What Christmas traditions do you have with your kids? What is something new you can do this year to build new, healthy and happy memories?