The holidays are usually so full that for most of the past twenty or so years, I've done all the Christmas shopping solo. I always thought we would go out as a family and look around together, experiencing all the excitement of the season, you know that sweet spot in the shopping calendar when Black Friday is over but well before the last-minute-before-Christmas-frenzy has begun.
I always loved that time when I was a child and have some very fond memories of walking around the brightly decorated mall with cousins and aunts and siblings and my mom. It was magical in its way and I always wanted that for my children as well, but the Christmas stars just never aligned to make that happen. We moved away from family for a number of years, so that wasn't an option. In addition, Mr. Bleu was frequently away on business and back in the days before smart phones and Google Maps, I never really adapted to driving around major cities with two small children no clue where I was going.
It's not really the way I envisioned it, but in the end it has usually been easier to browse on my computer than to try to figure out a time to load up everyone and haul them all around to half a dozen different places while trying to hide everything we bought from each other. Still, I have never given up the hope that we could eventually make a big family shopping trip work and this year was finally our year.
The stars did in fact align this year and we all found ourselves with a Sunday afternoon free after Black Friday and before the last minute, so we decided to make a go of it. All bundled up in warm clothes and loaded up into a single car, I really can't remember the last time we did anything as a group like this and a little part of me wonders if this will be the last time, the last Christmas we all spend under the same roof.
Good or bad, all things end, which is why it is so important to never give up on trying to make those magical moments and treasured Christmas memories. It doesn't always work out every year, and yeah, sometimes it's ok to take a break from stressing so much about everything being perfect, but keep trying at the important stuff. It really does make a difference in the end.
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