Crying "Uncle"

This past week was supposed to be a "quiet" one on the home front with no parent appointments scheduled.  Great!  That would give me plenty of time to prepare for the holidays, right???

Well, it didn't turn out quite that way...

The Friday evening before this much anticipated week of quiet, my mother called with her grocery list, and to let me know "stuff" had been lined up (all medically related) for Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday.  After all, there was nothing else going on...

As I hung up the phone, I felt completely overwhelmed, and then the panic set in -- How would I ever fit everything in now?!?  All I had done so far was purchase a couple of on-line gifts for Eli, write one Christmas letter, and stash away a couple "little somethings" for my favorite Cookies...

When Mark got home, I sort of fell apart, and quite unlike me, weepily unloaded... Then together we talked it out, and decided not to "do" Christmas this year -- no card sending, no special baking, no more decorating (Eli, almost singlehandedly, had done the tree a couple of weeks ago), and no more shopping... What was done or started, was done and would get finished, but what wasn't, wouldn't be... Everyone agreed, and with a bit of uncertainty, and a lot of prayer, my load lifted.

Since then, I've done a lot of contemplating... We are all really happy and contented this year.  We are still looking forward to Christmas with more joy than ever, and for the first time in years, there is absolutely no pressure on any of us.  Not at all what I was expecting... 

In fact, I think God has allowed us the chance to know tangibly what we have always believed, and taught our children, but never had cause to truly experience...

When you have personally accepted the Greatest Christmas Gift of all-time, Christmas lives within the heart, and you can still celebrate a joy-filled holiday without "doing" or "having" anything else at all...

In the words of Laura Ingalls Wilder, "It is Christmas in the heart that puts Christmas in the air."

This is my version (I added the pink cheeks and embossed the images) of a card originally designed by smART Cookie, Heidi Kingery.  It is so simple and perfect that I just had to copy it.

It also states what my family and I are truly celebrating this Christmas of 2007.

Cardworks:
Stamps:  ABC-Baby Savior, CMS-13 In A Manger
Square card - front panel scored along each edge.
Versafine onyx black ink embossed with Transcendence powder.
Colored with markers and pencils.
Baby Savior image stamped a second time on scrap, cut out, and adhered to card with foam tape.
Reminder:  Sending a square card through the mail costs an extra 17 cents.