Thursday, December 31, 2009

.a new tradition.

There is a tomato taped to my kitchen window. Kinda random. Rather ridiculous. That was the point. It's been a rather crazy month for me, December has, but it's a good kind of busy. Christmas day arrived and I found myself stressing over the company that was coming over in the early afternoon for dinner. I wanted so much for our Christmas morning to be quiet. Quiet in the sense that there was no rushing, no worrying over this or that. My daughter opened up her gifts and spent most of the morning playing with her new toys and books. But as the day went on, I realized that the rushing to get things together was about to begin. The worrying over how everyone was going to get along because not everyone has met each other until that day started to hover over me. All this fretting and hurrying made me. . . well, grouchy. Ha! Then the crack in the window of our kitchen bothered me. I joked around with my Mom telling her that one of my little canvas paintings of a shiny, red ornament hanging off a bare tree branch would make a great cover up. My Mom asked for the packing tape. I handed it to her, watching her tape the canvas to the glass. Silly woman. It wasn't until later that I realized that she had also taped a tomato to the window as well. I was in the midst of getting dressed, getting food together, getting my family dressed, and putting the house back together when I saw it. This tomato. I looked at my Mom and couldn't help but ask, What the hell? I also couldn't help but laugh. Her response back to me was, "It looks like an ornament so. . . there you go!" Even her response cracked me up. It was just the comic relief I needed to remind me to chill out. So what if things aren't perfect? Laugh it off.

The rest of the day went smoothly. Everyone was happy. Bellies were full. My child was content. Christmas was absolutely wonderful. Next year, at Christmas time, there will be a new tradition. A tomato will hang in our kitchen window as a reminder that when things feel like they're getting a little too crazy during the Holidays, take a breath, notice the sillier things in life, and maybe laugh a little. There's no better stress reliever than laughter.

Now to you, dear friends, I wish you all the best and most wonderful New Year! There is so much to share with you. So much good happening that I KNOW this upcoming year will be simply beautiful! Be safe!