I wish I would have learned this lesson when I was a very young adult. The years I spent paying off debt until near spring to ensure Christmas was a success.
Christmas is a success. The very nature of Christmas is wrapped in a miracle.
This month has been calm in Christmas preparation, because everything has been done. It's now about taking the magic of the season in with family, friends, twinkling lights, romantic movies, and the journey of the celebration leading to the crescendo of Christmas Day.
To my younger self, I would have said, "Act your wage at Christmas, plan well months in advance and do not enter the New Year with debt."
As I walked in my office there sat a Christmas card and gift bag. It was a handwritten card in thanks and appreciation from a girl on my staff for how I've worked around her work and school schedule with a homemade gift she made herself. It truly was from the heart and it struck me how much that meant.
I love handwritten notes. They are a lost art and one perhaps I very well may resurrect in 2019.
With everything done (except Sofia's stocking), my schedule is open for Christmas experiences and adventures and that's exactly how I want to spend the rest of 2018.
Two weeks until Christmas.
