Sunday Serenity #369

Helen @ Helen's Book Blog
HT/Bonnie's Books

This is an ongoing series from my Bucket List
of things I desperately want to do before
I loose the rest of my vision

My Bucket List
#11 Celebrate Christmas in My Own Home with All the Trappings

Encountering all the Holiday images on blogs and fb in the last several weeks has reminded me of a longing I've had for over two decades now.  I want to celebrate Christmas in my own home with all the trappings--decorations, special recipes, a tree with gifts piled under it--all of which I'd prefer to make more than I bought.  And then there's the music and of course all the love, joy and peace stemming from the acts of giving and the attitude of gratitude the season is all about.  

My family did not celebrate as our church did not condone it.  So for the first several years of my marriage joining the celebrations with Ed's family was always a stressful wrestle with my conscience.  Then one year while watching my niece's and nephew's glee I found myself grinning and realized the guilt had vanished.  After that I was all in and began dreaming of the Christmasy things I wanted to make and do next year.

All of those niece's and nephew's are of an age now to have kids of there own and several of them do and yet I've never been able to create that vision tho it gets more vivid as the years go by.  There was always something preventing it.  Usually severe financial constraints, sometimes illness.  More than one year Ed was not working.  One December we spent most of the month without electricity.  Several times we were in transition between homes either packing or unpacking.  And for over a decade we were living with Ed's parents so did not have our own home to create our own vision in.

Here's to next year in my own home...

My Bucket List

#1 Hot Air Balloon Ride
#2 Play on a real drum set
#3 Swim with dolphins
#4 Visit Shakespeare & Co. Bookshop in Paris
#5 Visit the Library of Congress
#6 Attend a Performance of Beethoven's Symphony #9 by a top notch Orchestra

#7 Visit Hawaii
#8 Visit Russia 
#9 Learn Russian
#10 Learn Braille