Happy Holidays!

It's November. Holiday cups are out at Starbucks. The holidays are upon us. It is time to be perfect.

We come together to give thanks, and hope that the side dish and wine that we brought are perfect.
We put on our best outfits.
We do our makeup.
We hope that the day will neither be humid nor windy, and that our hair will do what we want it to do (or we hairspray it into submission).
We worry that our family vacation stories might pale in comparison to those of our friends or extended family.
We host people for Christmas dinner, wondering if the throw pillows and blankets look festive enough and coordinate well with the overall decor, if our serving plates are pretty enough, if our furniture is adequate, if our food is any good.

In short, the holidays can get stressful.

Pottery Barn tells me my table and Christmas tree should look like this (believe me, you don't want to see what Restoration Hardware and Horchow set out as examples):

But, what if my table isn't adorned with the *perfect* centerpieces? What if I forget to casually place a warm and inviting throw on the edge of my elegantly rustic bench? What if I don't decorate my tree with a theme in mind?! 

Similarly, what if I don't look like this after cooking a large meal, or any day, really:

This is from J. Crew's Holiday Catalogue in 2008 and was posted by a blogger (she has a few of the older catalogues scanned on her site: The J. Crew Archives).

It's easy to get caught up in a lot of this stuff during the holidays. The question is, how do we put some of our worries aside and just enjoy the company of our friends and family? Think of it this way: have you ever gone over to a friend's house and thought, wow, I cannot believe they didn't have a centerpiece at the table. Have you ever gone to a family member's home for Christmas and thought, well, that was nice, but I cannot believe they had the nerve to serve Christmas dinner without sparkly snowflake napkin rings/wine glasses scientifically engineered to enhance the flavor of this particular varietal/holiday-themed place card holders? I'm going to go ahead and say that you haven't. 

All of this to say I hope that everyone enjoys the holiday season this year (and every year, for that matter!). It can be hard not to get caught up in quest for perfection at this time of the year, but I hope that you'll consider not freaking out about whether or not your table will look perfectly set, or if your turkey will be the prettiest and most delicious one anyone has ever tasted, or if you gift to the hostess is the most original idea ever. In fact, some of the best memories are often made when Aunt Betty burns the turkey and cousin Eddy has such a small dining table that eighty percent of the family is eating Christmas dinner standing, on the sofa, or even on the floor next to the tree that Charlie Brown brought home.