Let's talk!

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Has there ever been a more truer statement? This topic has been on my mind recently, especially with the holiday season upon us. My friend Nickie over at Sunday Through Sunday wrote a great post about it and I figured it was high time to finally spill my thoughts on the matter.

It happens every year. I get so excited about Christmas and I spend all day and night putting up my decorations and decorating the tree to it's full of seasonal splendor. I always get so happy and warm inside when I look at my home all decked out in the season's colors. Then I get on Facebook and see Mary Sue's Christmas tree that looks like it was personally decorated by little charming southern elves. 

Then I go to Suzie's house and the whole dang thing looks like it was ripped from the pages of Better Homes And  Gardens. In my eyes my house suddenly looks like a five year old decorated it. My house doesn't even look like it would be in the running for Ok-ish Homes And Gardens. 

I immediately feel saddened and downhearted. Why? Because I'm comparing myself to them. Not just in the home department either.....

I see Molly decorating a gingerbread house with her little tot and I feel like a crappy mom because so far all Munchkin and I have accomplished is watching all of season two of Sherlock. 

Then I see Mary Beth ( why do all my fake names feel like the south in the 50s?) wearing her beautiful Christmas dress that makes her look like freaking Marilyn Monroe and I'm over here chowing down on my mother-in-law's caramel popcorn. 

See? The cycle never ends! And I can't be the only one out there. It's crazy when you think about it. Just imagine if your child was acting the way you act. Imagine if your daughter was comparing herself to Rihanna or Hermione or whoever else. You'd tell her she was perfect and everyone is different. You'd tell her she's been ridiculous and that she's this amazing person who you would never trade for all the Rihannas in the world...or even one really...what? Sorry...no, not really sorry at all actually.

My point is that we can see the perfectness in others, but we can't see it in ourselves and that's so ridiculous. So what if my house isn't perfect, hell I'm not perfect either. My presents might not have gorgeous bows and matching paper that looks like it was wrapped by Williams Sonoma himself ( is that a real guy?) but it's because I have a little angel running around my house and finding magic in pulling bows off. So what? 

That's just my home, and that's my happiness. Look for the good in yourself and your creations. Stop comparing your page one to their page 95. We're not perfect. We just all try to be and we end up hurting ourselves in the process. Enjoy the little things because fifty years from now you're not going to remember if you had matching garland in your windows you're going to remember how much your kid smiled or how many snowball fights you had with your Hubby. 

Try to see the beauty in yourself that others see. Embrace the parts you try to hard to hide and fix because those parts are what make YOU original. 

YOU are amazing, there I said it. I know how you feel and sometimes a stranger telling us something is what we need for validation so you're getting it now. Listen up: YOU ARE AMAZING. Go have fun, go do what makes you happy, life is short. Forget the others, forget the magazines, just be you and be happy with what makes your heart smile.