Today, I had a friend say that she felt like she had failed Christmas.  She went on to tell me that she had bought the wrong gift card for her daughter. Her daughter had wanted a card from one type of home décor shop and she had found this out only after she had bought a card from different store.  My friend had also bought a gift that needed to be assembled for her granddaughter.  She had asked her hubby to put it together because it was important to her that her granddaughter  receive her present assembled. Her hubby did it, but made sure she knew it was inconvenient for him to do so. She felt that the holiday meals she made weren’t as perfect as she wanted, so she had failed there, too.  On top of it all, there was a blizzard Christmas Day, and her son and hubby spent 6 hours of the day clearing driveways and sidewalks.  Not the  way to spend a family Christmas.

It hurt my heart to hear how sad she was. This is what I told her:

Hugs, My Dear Friend. Just know that you can’t fail Christmas. Christmas, is about love. You did everything  with love. Things happen. Life happens. Sometimes we get the perfect day. Everything goes as planned, and it’s just perfect. Other times, it doesn’t. But the love that is there, remains. Your food, while not perfect in your eyes, still nourished you. Your daughter and granddaughter, still received gifts that were given with love. Your hubby may have been tired, but he assembled the gift, because he loved you and your granddaughter. Your son and hubby shoveled snow because it needed to be done and they cared. Christmas still came, in spite of it’s imperfections. God Bless you. you didn’t fail Christmas, or your family. Enjoy today.

This is true for any day of the week, any season of the year.  You can’t fail if you do something with love, no matter how it turns out. It may not be perfect.  It may be awkward.  But when the feeling is genuine, that’s all that really counts.