this I can do

It’s a lot, Christmas.

Maybe it didn’t help that I moved the weekend after Thanksgiving but even so, on Black Friday I went to Lowe’s and bought a Christmas tree and then I got an elf on the shelf from Target and even I remember to move it. Last night we made Christmas cookies and tomorrow is Holden’s Christmas pageant and I just remembered moms are supposed to buy presents for children’s teachers so that also, I will do. I took self-timer pictures for Christmas cards on Wednesday, the only day Brandon is out of school before the good light is gone and Friday, in my graduation gown, I picked them up and today I am gluing shut envelopes, putting on stamps. I will wrap Christmas presents later and make fudge for my poetry students and the girls at the coffee shop. Tomorrow is a hoe down at Brandon’s school so he wants cowboy boots for this one outfit and probably I will take him to look for some because building outfits brings him great joy and I don’t want to be the mom that didn’t do this parenting thing right.

Which I know is crazy, impossible even. But damn if I’m not trying to make Christmas in our new home something to remember, something to look forward to in the upcoming years, somewhere we all want to be wrapped inside of. That part, at least, I think, maybe, I can do.