I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving celebrating with family and friends just as I had. And although it’s behind us, there is still a lot of celebration to come. So, today I would like to share with you an article that helped make my holiday preparation feel less stressful. It’s about letting go of perfection and realizing it’s ok to be messy. However, It could rub some of you perfectionist the wrong way, but I assure you my intention is to help you relieve the pressure perfection brings. But before I get to the article, I would like to share a personal story. So, moving on.
Our younger daughter Marissa, is getting married early this summer. And for the past couple of months we’ve been attending to all of the details that go into planning a wedding. For parents who have had the experience, you are aware of all of the details big and small. For those of you who have a daughter not yet married, I would like to prepare you ahead of time, there are ALOT of details!
On this one particular day, we met with a woman named Robin. She’s the owner of the company who will be doing all the floral bouquets and arrangements. It took a couple of hours because we picked every flower and color of the boutonniere, corsages, bride’s bouquet, the entrance, isle and table arrangements, etc.
Robin was very gracious, and really put a lot of thought into the colors of the flowers. You see, our daughter loves and choose a fall color for her early summer wedding. Which meant, Robin had a lot of work to do trying to pull the two together.
After awhile of going through the list picking things we liked, it was time for the Bride’s bouquet. She showed us this peachy coral color bouquet of roses, it was stunning. Although, after a few minutes of googling over it, I started to think to myself “this is beautiful and all but it’s really not Riss” (Riss is what we’ve called our daughter Marissa since she was little).
At that point, I had a dilemma in front of me and there was a struggle going on in my head. Should I hold my peace or speak up? If I spoke, I would be taking the risk of sticking my opinion in where it didn’t belong?” After all, it was Rissa’s special day not mine. Fortunately, in spite of that fear I chose to speak, and before I knew it out came “I love this bouquet but Riss it’s just not you. You’re a lot messier than this.” I continued with “don’t get me wrong this bouquet is beautiful, but it’s just not you.” To my relief, Riss agreed.
In the end, we picked out a totally different kind bouquet. Not only was it wild and messy but it was beautiful. It still had roses, but the greenery was spiky and awesome. A perfect match for our daughter’s preferred style.
We were so excited, and talked about the flowers we picked all the way to her house. Soon after taking her home one thing kept racing through my head, what I said about my her being messy. I began worrying if I offended or hurt her by it, and it started weighing on me. But God was faithful to minister to me even in this situatatin.
It was not long after, when I sat down to read a new complimentary magazine called “Celebrate.” It came with the monthly magazine I subscribe to, and it’s focus was on a Christmas memory. That’s when low and behold, God used the first article “Welcome” to minister to my heart and rid the guilt I had been putting on myself.
Celebrating Messy Christmas Memories
Here’s how the article read:
“Welcome!
MY FAMILY HAS A LOT
of holiday traditions, but our absolute favorite is commemorating the day the Bride of frankenstein came to Christmas. I’ll explain. One December, my mother declared she needed a new look and, daringly, got a perm. Her straight salt-and -pepper locks were suddenly transformed into a tower of poodle fur with white streaks racing up the sides. This unfortunate event just happened to coincide with my father getting a new camera for Christmas. Long story short, my shutterbug dad took lots of photos that day. A few weeks later, we picked up the prints from the drugstore (hey, it was the 1980″s) and were shocked by what was inside: photo after photo of my mom unwrapping gifts with a hairdo that was equal parts Marge Simpson and the Bride of Frankenstein.
Fortunately, my mom has a good sense of humor, and we’ve since turned this holiday horror into a beloved tradition. Every December 13, we gather (sometimes over Zoom) to fondly look at and laugh over those now notorious photos. The point is, oftentimes our most treasured holiday memories are unscripted, unexpected, and, yes, messy. In this first issue of Celebrate, we serve up lots of ideas and inspiration-from holiday-themed treats and crafts to film and podcast recos-but we’re also encouraging everyone to eschew Hallmark perfection and embrace spontaneity. Be silly, celebrate fails, and enjoy the special kind of chaos that only the holidays can bring. We hope you enjoy this new magazine and the holidays ahead!”
by Jonathan Whitbourne
