Our Imperfect Christmas

Right before Christmas I received an email that talked about the imperfect Christmas. It was saying that we need to focus on each other rather than all that needs to be done. It also talked about how most traditions start when something goes wrong. I laughed to myself and thought about how I try not to get hung up on all that needs to be done……I think that was my mistake. As a lot of you know our Christmas was far from perfect. Oh it started out perfect. Plans to go back east and spend Christmas with my family after 14 years of not having the holiday together. All was on track. Gifts wrapped and shipped, bags packed, tree down and then we get the call….flight cancelled. Again no big deal we will just go a day later…nope couldn’t get out until the 27th…now it is time to panic. What are we going to do? The mister is very concerned about our gifts that are on their way to VA. All of our gifts, even the ones from Ol’ Saint Nick. So I tell him to call Fed Ex and see if there is anyway to pull the package. They say no problem we will have the package to you on Christmas Eve. Great….everything will be okay…right? So I suck it up for my kids, put on a happy face, and pull out a few Christmas decorations. All is well. Then Christmas Eve roles around. No package. The mister calls Fed Ex, no problem your package will be delievered in Fredricksburg tonight…..WHAT?!! It was supposed to come back to Boise. Okay just keep it there because we will be there in a few days. Now I have to rush out on Christmas Eve and find something that will make Christmas wonderful and magical for my kids. Great, just what I had planned for Christmas Eve, shopping! Off I go leaving the mister at home to make cookies for Santa, get the gifts, head to church, come home, put out cookies and reindeer food, wrap presents, fill stockings, and fall into bed. What the heck just happened? Christmas day roles around and all is well. Kids are happy and Santa came through. The mister is still nervous about our box so he calls Fed Ex. Oh the box will be delivered to your hotel tomorrow morning. On the 26th the mister calls Fed Ex again. Oh your box will be delivered to Idaho on Friday…..WHAT??!! It is supposed to stay in VA. Nope on it’s way home, but we are leaving. The mister talks to the Fed Ex manager and explains this whole messed up situation and they say they will try to fix it. I take down the Christmas decorations again, pack again, and plan to go to the airport very early….again. On the 27th we head to the airport, go through security, mister can’t find his cell phone, that is because it is at home…great. Calls his mom who is staying at our house and tells her to mail it. Do we dare use Fed Ex? We get on our plane and sit on the runway for an hour while they deice and attempt to put in all the luggage. We are an hour behind schedule and I am getting nervous. We land in Seattle at 9:01 and we are supposed to leave at 9:15. Missed our connection…boarding closed!!! Nice. Wait in Seattle for 5 hours. Catch the 2:00 flight to DC. Sit on the plane for an hour while they find a pilot. Circle around twice, wait for a repair guy to fix a latch on a door, take off….finally. Hopefully we make it. Land in DC at midnight. Fall into bed at 2am. Wake up and think maybe the worst is over. Little man says his tummy hurts, Send the mister for some Pepto, give the little man pepto, little man hurls all over the bed in the hotel room. Nice. Merry Christmas! The mister and I just laughed at each other. What else could go wrong???? We have a yummy late Christmas dinner with my family and despite missing a few presents still have a lot of fun. On the 29th the cell phone and gifts arrived…yeah! No more puke and no one else got sick. Our trip was fun and coming home was a breeze. During all of this I kept asking God what He was trying to tell me or teach me and I had no answers. Trust me I was grumpy because nothing was going right and I mean nothing. Then it hit me….the imperfect Christmas. I realized that I had the imperfect Christmas and everything was okay. We still had the spirit and love and each other which is all that mattered. So just like 2000 years ago, everything did not go as planned yet it was wonderful. This is a Christmas that will go down in history in Kerbyville. One that we are already laughing about. It was our Imperfect Christmas!