Christmas reality: the most chaotic time of the year

If you spend much time on social media, your feed is most likely filled with images of the perfect Christmas. Like replicas of classic Norman Rockwell paintings, people are posting scenes of perfectly trimmed trees, well-dressed and behaved children and delicious looking food. Even the pets get in on the action with sweater-clad dogs and cats that are somehow not destroying everything in sight.  

You might know someone who has gone on a lavish holiday vacation and are inundating you with depictions of the perfect family and the perfect place. The mailbox is most likely filled with greetings, showing smiling faces, with no sign of worry, or perfectly posed kiddos on the lap of jolly ol’ St. Nick. 

Not to be a Scrooge, but these are all phony. Behind all of these scenarios is pure disorder. Frantic parents trying to capture a moment of serenity, sugared-up children, temporarily freed from responsibility, running wild and pets that have no idea what is going on. After the first couple of photo sessions Santa is ready for his 11-month vacation. All to the backdrop of Christmas music that has been overplayed for the past month and the smell of something burning in the oven. 

Christmas is the most wonderful time of the year, but it is also the most stressful, especially for those trying to pull a happy holiday out of thin air. A lot of work goes into decorating, cooking, shopping and all the other things that make Christmas merry and bright. It is the time to count your blessings and show a little extra love to the people around you. But why do we insist on it looking perfect?

One of the best Christmas movies is “National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation,” because it shows the disfunction that comes with the holidays. Clark Griswold only wants to have the perfect Christmas, but all his efforts go to naught. The decorations fail, the family bickers, the meals are a disaster and he gets screwed over at work. Of course, he gets a Hollywood happy ending, though I would never recommend kidnapping your boss as the means to an end. 

My advice, if it is worth anything, is to embrace the Christmas chaos. So far this year I’ve taken zero charming photographs (not for lack of trying), half the lights on the Christmas tree are out, we waited too late or order Christmas cards (but remember I have no charming, themed photo to go on them), the kids have fought and bickered every day since school got out and the robot vacuum, which I am still suspicious of, was caught dragging a present around the house. That is the picture of my Christmas. And I couldn’t be happier.  

Merry Christmas to you and yours. My hope is that your Christmas is loud and disorderly, because you are surrounded by those you love. 

Now go check the oven. The turkey is burning.

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