Seasons greetings…at least according to me

May all the magic of the season be yours.

Wishing you a world glittering with beauty, a season sparkling with wonder.

I am reading these sentiments out loud to Husband as we stand in the long aisle of Christmas cards at Target.

I am looking for the perfect card, just the right one to send from our family to yours. It can’t have too much glitter, but it should be festive. It must use regular postage. It shouldn’t be too overly religious but not too irreverent either. Most of all, it must convey the perfect sentiment.

Hope Santa brings you all you’re dreaming of and more!

Hoping your Christmas is simply the best.

“That’s a mighty lot of pressure to put on a person during the holidays,” I say.

A few feet away, a harried-looking woman with a buggy full of wrap and tinsel and bows mutters under her breath, “For real.” She shoves the box of cards she was contemplating back on the shelf and stalks off. I can hear her still muttering as she rounds the end of the aisle.

I keep looking through box after sappy, sentimental, saccharine box. Husband stares at the ceiling. Then at the floor. He’s just hoping I pick something with no glitter, not one shiny fleck.

Wishing you a stocking full of wonderful!

Believe that the wonder of Christmas will fill your heart with joy!

I keep hunting, crawling around on the floor to see what’s on the low shelves. Here’s more magic. There’s more wonder. Too much “all” and “every.” Box after box of dreams and dreaming and hopes and hoping and wishes and wishing and blessings and blessing.

Surely something lies between

May your home be filled with all the happiness the holiday season can bring!

and

Seasons greetings.

If the perfect sentiment does exist, however, it is as fleeting as that glimpse of a certain jolly old elf as he slips back up your chimney leaving surprises and cookie crumbs (and hopefully no switches) in his wake.

That’s why this year, I think I’ll just write my own holiday greetings. So, squeeze your eyes shut tight, just like at bedtime on Christmas night, and imagine just the right amount of glitter, maybe a little gold foil, and some fancy lettering that says it all.

May the stress of the season not overwhelm you so much that you don’t see a little magic if it’s there or feel bad if it’s not. After all, magic can be overrated, and stress will make your hair fall out.

Wishing you a world where your kin don’t fight too much, no one puts marshmallows in the ambrosia, the Andre’ Cold Duck sparkles, and you don’t have to wonder if Great Aunt Thelma can find her way home because someone sweetly offered to drive her.

Hoping Santa brings you some things that are decent, and maybe even nice, and that you share some of them with those who don’t have enough! Having everything you dream of would just be boring and lead to a life of apathy and despair. I hope you never feel that way.

Hoping your Christmas is the Christmas you want it to be, that it can be realistically achieved, and that you don’t have to spend all of next year paying for it — in more ways than one.

May there be no “making memories,” which only ever results in yelling and tears and certainly not the sort of picturesque memory you were hoping for. Here’s hoping your fondest memories occur organically, you notice them when they do, and that they last as long as time will let them.

Wishing you a stolen glance from your honey, a pat on the hand from your granny, and that you enjoy a perfectly imperfect day! Oh, and wishing that the puppy learns how to use the pee pad, your toddler does too, and that if someone feels like throwing a hissy fit, they have the common decency to run out into the woods and throw it alone.

Remember that Jesus loves the little children — all of them — and the grown-ups too. Hope that happy days are ahead and troubles will soon fade into a distant memory. And believe that the wonder of Christmas will fill your heart with joy…if you will only let it.