Some people will say I have to do more. Some people will say I have to do less. I speak from experience when I say it doesn’t matter what I do, I can’t win. It’s always been hard trying to make Christmas magical when we’re not home. We couldn’t decorate a rental house, nor did we want to spend the money to buy decorations that we’d basically just throw away. We couldn’t bake cookies because most of the houses didn’t come with baking sheets or even mixing bowls. We would try to cram these “traditions” in the crazy busy weeks leading up to us leaving.
Don’t get me wrong. We always made the best of everything. When Santa left stockings, the kids were thrilled. When we would swim every Christmas day, the kids loved it. Nightly beach walks became “tradition”
Time marches on though and things change. The Christmas day swimming isn’t quite as fun when it’s just with your sibling and dad. The walks on the beach need to be photographed and documented for social media. Just stockings didn’t really cut it when everyone they know posts pictures of all their gifts.
This year, already, I’ve been told that we have no Christmas traditions. I have failed Christmas before it’s even started. And this was the last Christmas before the boy goes to college. So, I have failed to make Christmas magical for my family. And it breaks my heart.