day three: ornamenting

Painting ornaments is something my family and I used to do, for years, as a way of relaxing and slowing down over the holidays. With some quiet Christmas tunes in the background, a fresh brewed coffee (or Pepsi back in the day) my mom, sister, aunt and I would sit around the kitchen table and set to work on what felt like hours of silent concentration.


As an adult I can now see how important that momentary escape from the holiday chaos can be, as I have a list still to go by which has me a little nervous that it's the 23rd already tomorrow. Instead of grow frantic and try to complete everything at once, like I usually do, I instead sat down and followed through with my family's greatest tradition.


I may not have painted so much as glued and chopped up crossword puzzles, but the task itself was a great reminder of how important it is to slow down and just let your hands do the walking/talking/fidgeting/cutting/pasting/sticking to the table. It was a wonderful escape that I plan on taking again later today.

Here's to family traditions!