Let. It. Go.

"Will you too accept the challenge of backing off on decisions about the holidays?" This came from author Karen Ehman in her email From Chaos to Calm: The Let. It. Go. Christmas Challenge. She discusses how a friend had challenged her to fast for three weeks from making executive decisions in her marriage and family... during the Christmas season. As I read how Karen allowed her son to decorate their yard and home for the Christmas season, I blew her off as a bit extreme. It's one thing to let your husband make the decisions in the home (which I have a difficult time embracing to begin with). It's another to give that kind of power to a child. Who does that? Not anyone of sound mind was the answer I gave myself.

 

I am the kind of woman who has to leave the house on Black Friday (which my girls have now affectionately deemed "Tree Friday") in big part so that I don't criticize the way my family decks the halls. When my husband called to interrupt my solo shopping trip to request that I stop and pick up new strands of Christmas lights, I surprisingly wasn't too bothered. "There are some special requests," he added. I knew the words that were going to come out of his mouth next. Maybe I was confident there was no way I could meet the demands of my children. Possibly, I was having an out-of-body experience. Either way, I told him I would see what I could do. My mission was to find one purple, one pink and one teal strand of Christmas lights.

If you know me at all, you'd likely say that I have a difficult time letting go of tradition. And Christmastime is filled with traditions my daddy established that I hold dear to my heart. My father was very particular about how his tree was trimmed. Just recently, my mom reminded me that he would purchase individual red Christmas lights to replace all the pink lights that came on the multi-colored strand. Maybe that has something to do with why I leave the house on "Tree Friday". For some reason, I feel the need to give direction on every part of decorating "O Tannenbaum". Yet I have no desire to actually deck the halls myself.

The few stores I was shopping in didn't bring success on my mission. I would have to leave the mall. With their large array of Christmas decorations, Menards seemed to be my best bet. Forget the fact that this was the very store I couldn't walk through for months following my dad's death because the smells of hardware and the sights of a carpenter's trade tore at my emotions. I couldn't help but chuckle when I saw the purple strands of lights in front of me. Here I was purchasing not only the pink lights my dad so vehemently detested but purple and teal (technically blue but they look teal lit up) as well.
 

I received a payment of smiles from my girls and husband. It just might be good to let go. Karen has a new book LET. IT. GO. How to Stop Running the Show & Start Walking in Faith. I think my family would highly recommend I read this book. One email allowed me to let go of a major hang up in my life. I can't even imagine what an entire book encouraging me in the same could do!