An imperfectly perfect Christmas
What is Christmas about? – I think it’s mostly about love and beauty – at home. Both words have many meanings. Some are simply aesthetic visuals and others, a complex expression of what we would like the world to see.
We welcome people into our own personal space, to share our table, food, and conversation at Christmas. That is the simplicity of it. The complex part arrives when we layer the need for our homes to be ‘perfect’.
Last Christmas we had just moved into our new home. Although it’s a beautiful house under its current decorative state, it was only ‘just’ liveable. And moving our lives and business from one city to another, the week before Christmas was quite foolish. But that was our window and so whilst watching other people wind down and prepare for multiple festivities, we were packing boxes.
We managed to tear up the carpets moments before the delivery van arrived. Because of the complexity of our move, we failed miserably to point out the correct placements for our possessions – especially “that enormous cupboard needs to go against that wall.” It didn’t – it went on the other wall, which meant our living room was very badly laid out for festive ‘fun’. Christmas last year reminded me of my student houses, just with worse bathrooms, but oddly full of students.
The kitchen can’t be discussed beyond the word ‘hideous’, but we assessed the situation and came up with some pretty tasty options, that did not require too much poking about. The bathrooms – I won’t describe.
We managed to grab the last tree on Christmas Eve, and we had (cleverly) heavily branded the box with decorations – so a beautiful tree was had, albeit in the wrong place… We also found our napkins and plates and special glasses, so for me it was already better than I thought it could be. A deep clean and foraged foliage gave us a whiff of what you would see in a magazine.
We made beds, and plumped the cushions we could find. Art was leant on walls, instead of hung. We queued at food stores because there we no delivery slots left. I believe we even made a new friend in the cheese queue. We gave in to the fact it was not going to be perfect from a visual angle. It was strangely comforting and very human.
But we had us, and as beautiful memory marker - many more people last Christmas than we ever have had before. We also had mighty fun. Perhaps because it was very undone, we could all focus on what Christmas is actually for.
This year we have managed to sort out two rather lovely bathrooms, but sadly still no kitchen. There will be a beautiful tree in the living room, in the right corner. And in our new tradition it will be put up on Christmas Eve. The cupboard has moved to the correct wall too – so we won’t be craning necks to speak to a pal. Handy with the board games and tom foolery to be had. Napkins, glasses, table and chairs – all ready and delightful to look at and hold.
What I know for sure is that a bit of beauty is enough at Christmas. Food, friends and family (whatever this is to you), is everything you need – and cheese. Aren’t we lucky.
