holiday love

Our beautiful friend Katie Hughes is sharing a piece of her heart with us today. This simple reminder is exactly what we need to keep in our hearts as we are in the thick of another holiday season. Katie is the owner of Lucky Love Co. along with her sister Ginny. Together they have created businesses that have flourished even as they remember that the most important thing in their lives is FAMILY.

I’ll never forget helping my mom decorate for Christmas growing up. We always had at least three trees decked from top to bottom with the finest ornaments, beautiful vignettes in every corner, honoring the spirit of the season that she so beautifully created in our home. As grown kids, we joke about how even every light switch and toilet seat were decorated at Christmas. In some ways I wish I were kidding, but in most other ways, I joyfully claim the craziness of extra “love” she’d put into our home. She has always taught me so simply that “love is in the details.” I not only love this and believe this, but I work hard to have the same attitude and spirit in my home each Christmas.

In recent years, however, my focus at Christmastime has shifted a bit. I’m not sure if it has come from growing older or if it’s a reflection of my ability to let “perfection” go. Sure, I still try to create a spirit-filled home, decorating much like my own mother taught me (love really is in the details!), but I work hard now at shifting the focus from my TO-DO list to a FOR-YOU list which has completely changed my season.

It’s LOVE. It’s the same kind of love my mom used to adorn her trees and decorate our home, but it’s also the love focused on living in the moment, making joyful memories with the ones you love, and letting go of requiring yourself and others to do so much.

The truth is, love costs nothing, and it is everywhere if we open our eyes especially at Christmas. This means saying “no” to some things, so it can be a “yes” for your family. It means opening your heart each day to letting God show you who you can love and serve. It means maximizing the little moments with your spouse or children and creating a space for love to be there — letting go of the picture-perfect expectations we set for ourselves and letting love open your heart to simply feel joy in those imperfect moments.

When LOVE is the focus each season, everything falls into place. I find myself more joyful and happy and more attuned to the LOVE that started the whole season in the first place:

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” John 3:16