Every year I hear somebody say Christmas just doesn't feel the same anymore.
I know what they mean. It's hard not to miss the version of Christmas when you didn't have to think about the grocery list, the calendar, the shipping deadlines, and whether everybody had a gift. All you had to do was show up and be excited.
Back then, magic could be a string of lights in a window. A paper chain. A familiar movie starting on TV. Someone bringing out the same decorations they'd used forever, even the ones that were a little worse for wear.
Now we have so many ways to make the season beautiful that it sometimes feels like another job.
I say that as somebody who loves the decorating and the whimsy and the whole wonderful mess of Christmas. I like the colors and the silly traditions. I think putting up a tree early is a perfectly reasonable response to a long week.
But I don't want to spend the entire season setting a scene and then forget to enjoy being in it.
Maybe the memories we miss weren't actually perfect. Maybe the wrapping paper didn't match, the cookies were uneven, and somebody fell asleep halfway through the movie. Nobody was photographing every corner of the house. We just remembered how it felt.
That's the part I want more of this year.
An evening when the lights are on but the to-do list is put away. The smell of something baking just because it sounded good. A drive to see houses decorated for the season. People laughing in the kitchen while the food takes longer than expected.
And if your Christmas doesn't look like anyone else's? Good. It shouldn't have to.
The Leisure Club is about making space for the things that make us happy. During December, that might be an over-the-top tree. It might also be turning off the noise and watching the same old holiday movie for the tenth time.
I don't think Christmas has lost all its magic. I think it still waits in the small moments, asking us to slow down long enough to notice.
What's one little Christmas tradition you remember loving?
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