Secrets of Holiday Sanity

I have learned the hard way …

that sometimes getting the season right, means allowing a few things to go wrong.

It means letting our cat climb the Christmas tree.

And not freaking out about the lack of ornaments.

There are some other things I do that help me keep my sanity during this sometimes crazy season.

Click here to read my list in Austin Woman Magazine.

I guess the thing is – Madeleine’s kitty climbing antics helped me to relax where decorating is concerned. No more crazy, fragile (expensive) ornaments instead, I decorate with books.

Like Lisbeth Zwerger’s beautifully illustrated version of Dicken’s classic.

This year, I scattered these adorable Christmas tags I printed online courtesy of Jones Design. (Free!)

And pulled out my grandma’s Rosebud Chintz … for our annual allotment of milk punch.

And probably my favorite – is picking up fresh garland for the front porch. While I was hanging it this year, I wondered if I should move this large wooden cross my cousin crafted out of old fencing from the ranch. But then I remember that it’s not just his birth that we should be thankful for …

That worn cross reminded me that God had to let something go terribly wrong – to be right in the end.

For me.

And you.

I am enormously grateful … aren’t you?