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christmas and real life

Wishing all of you a very Merry Christmas.  I hope you enjoy it happily and safely with your friends and families.

Please know that everyone who reads this blog is greatly appreciated.  Thanks for stopping by, leaving comments, and just hanging out. 

I also want to say that for anyone out there who’s struggling in their life, may you be blessed with friendship and love and know that you are not alone. 

I know it’s hard to understand in blog land, everything always seems so perfect, even if people try not to be perceived in such a way.  I for one know that my blog is filled with things I love.  My favorite pictures, my favorite projects, and on and on, but in real life we do have real struggles.  A real house with really big messes.  Real children who test and demand.  A real husband who is in need of a real wife. 

But I love it, I love it all, without any of it, I would feel incomplete.  So this is my happy place where everything is neat and orderly and beautiful because we all know that real life really sometimes isn’t.

65 thoughts on “christmas and real life

  1. dana says:

    Beautiful post Anna. I’m so happy to have you as a friend. And I agree, we all put our best foot forward on our blogs, but our lives are far from perfect….which is why I completely value the wonderful friends and support system you guys are for me in blogland. Merry Christmas!

  2. Caralee says:

    Merry Christmas to you and your family! Enjoy them and all of the blessings they provide.

  3. Meg says:

    Wonderful post and so true. I wouldn’t trade it for anything else though. I am so blesses. Wishing you and your family a very blessed and merry Christmas!

  4. I love this post and agree fully! Hope you have a wonderful Christmas, Anna!

  5. Cindy says:

    Wishing you and your family a joyous Christmas!:)

  6. Anonymous says:

    So true! Actually made me feel a little misty… I stop by your blog every other day to get inspired and I often wonder “how does she do it?”. I, also a mother of two, barely have time or energy to make the bed in the morning! Though I live on the other side of the world from you, it’s funny how alike our everyday lives are. Love your blog!

    Merry Christmas to you and your family

    from Louise in Gothenburg, Sweden.

  7. Fiona says:

    Happy Christmas Anna!

  8. Emily says:

    So true! Merry Christmas to you and your beautiful family!

  9. Care says:

    Thank you for this beautiful post. Merry Christmas to you and your family — I hope all the work is done and it is time to just enjoy! :o)

  10. alayne says:

    Very well said, Anna. Happy Christmas to you and yours!!! :o)

  11. nima says:

    Lovely post Anna..wishing you and your family a Merry Christmas

  12. Jackie says:

    Thank you for your honesty and candor – I really enjoy your blog and creativity and hope you and your family have a blessed Christmas together.

  13. Pascale says:

    You phrased it so well, Anna – I’m totally with you!
    I’m wishing you happy holidays with your loved ones. See you around soon again in blogland!
    xo, Pascale

  14. A. says:

    I loved this post. Have a wonderfully Merry Christmas!

  15. What a wonderful post, and so true.

    Have a very merry Christmas, may it be as we all picture it being in our heads 🙂

  16. Caroline says:

    Merry Christmas. I love your blog and just finished up my last three gifts (A scrappy make up bag and three gathered clutches) they are definitely not perfect, but I’m counting on the recipients to look past that. Thank you so much for the hard work you put in to your tutorials that made my Christmas presents happen.

  17. Anna, you’ve said it all so well. It is lovely to come to a place where you can be yourself but are encouraged to be your best self too…and ok to not be!! Thank you for sharing this year…Merry Christmas!!

  18. Rachel says:

    Yep, nodding and agreeing totally. Very true – and very touching. We all have corners of our houses that we don’t photograph, and parts of our lives that we don’t share. Perfection is an illusion.

    You are very much appreciated, too, Anna. Your blog is fabulous, you are real, and it’s a joy to visit over here.

    Have a very Happy Christmas!

  19. True and well said.

  20. Tiphaine says:

    same here !! Have a perfect full of love and joyful christmas !!!

  21. Katie says:

    God bless you, Anna, and have a Merry Christmas!

  22. Ms Muffin says:

    Lovely post! So true!
    Merry Christmas to you too!

  23. Well said! Thanks, and wishing you a blessed Christmas!

  24. Dahlia says:

    Beautiful post Anna. Thanks for keeping things real, and always posting something beautiful and inspiring to look at 🙂 I hope you, Dan and your beautiful girls have a wonderful Christmas. God bless!

  25. amy smart says:

    So perfectly put! Have a great Christmas!!

  26. merry christmas to you too…

  27. Kristie says:

    That about sums it up!

    Enjoy your Christmas 🙂

  28. Leslie says:

    well put!! have a great christmas

  29. Kristen says:

    I love the post and agree with it completely. I wish a very Merry Christmas to you and your family.

    kristen

    p.s. My roundabout bag turned out fab, I absolutely love it! Thanks for making such a wonderful pattern.

  30. BubzRugz says:

    Happy Christmas Anna….. I think blogland is a great way to get lost and away from the daily struggles for a while ….. best wishes to you and yours and thanks for tons of inspiration….
    Hugz

  31. Angela says:

    I agree with everyone else, I really appreciate your post and the truths you shared. I hope that you and your family have a very wonderful Christmas! xx

  32. SHARM says:

    I love this entry wish you the same…

  33. Well said, Anna. I love this post. Have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

  34. Jenny says:

    You are right on the money, Anna! Blog does not always reflect life… mostly our favorite parts of life. The smiles, the nuggets of wisdom, the pretty things that we love, and hardly ever the messes! Oh the messes!! I’m thankful to know you, Anna. Merry Christmas and blessings to you and yours!

  35. Shannon says:

    Well said. I think we all feel that way but thank you for saying it. Merry Christmas to you and your family.

  36. Jess says:

    well put, Anna. I feel like I always want to say what you just did, but can’t as eloquently. You are an awesome crafter and great friend.

    Merry Christmas!

  37. Creative Mom says:

    Wonderful post. Happy Holidays!
    Pétra

  38. toots2u says:

    Merry Christmas! I enjoy your happy little place here in blogland! Thanks for all of your shares!

  39. Maxabella says:

    So well said! The blog is our ‘best self’ and I find more and more that my best self is my real self. I think blogging is quite therapeutic in that way.

    You’ve charmed me this year and I’ll be back to see what you’re up to in the next. Merry Christmas to a very lovely, very real you. x

  40. Val says:

    So kind of you to think of others who may be struggling during the holidays – may we all find some wonder and joy this season.

    Blessings to you and your family. 🙂

  41. Julie says:

    Beautifully said…. Merry Christmas 🙂

  42. *gu* says:

    I’ve never heard it so perfectly said.

    Thank you.

  43. Awwww, you expressed all the words that I couldn’t. Merry Christmas to you and your adorable family! Wishing you a wonderful holiday season and thank you for your blog and for also being a friend! I’m so glad to have “met” you and am so grateful for this wonderful blogging community of ours 🙂 Much love.

  44. Vicky says:

    Merry Christmas. x.

  45. Anonymous says:

    Thank you for this wonderful post!!! I have gone through a divorce recently and have found such great inspiration from the blogs I read but I do find myself wondering what I have to do to get these perfect lives. It was so great to hear that they are not always perfect but human. Have a great holiday!!

  46. Your post is so true. Thank you for your lovely blog!

  47. Cate says:

    Great post!! I personally love it when people blog the little imperfections in their lives – and I let the occasional pile of washing or messy sink pic creep into my blog (even though there is nothing occasional about their existence in my real like 🙂

    Hope you had a lovely xmas – look forward to lots more crafty inspiration in 2011 🙂
    xxxCate

  48. Great point and great post Anna! I hope you had a wonderful Christmas.

  49. So true! It’s amazing what a little cropping can do to make a blogger’s life look magazine perfect. If only they could see the dirty dishes, piles of toys, and dust bunnies that are hiding outside the frame!

  50. jannek says:

    What a great and true post! That’s also what attracts me so much to blogging, to get away for a moment from the dirty laundry, mess in my house, spilled coffee and enjoy the beauty of blogland!

  51. V and Co. says:

    a-freaking-men

    so glad to call you a real live friend too. and thanks for being there when i’ve been messy…and stuck around. 😉

  52. Kari says:

    Amen. I hope you had a wonderful Christmas.

  53. Mary says:

    Ah, yes I know exactly what you mean! I enjoy having my own happy place too, where everything is neat and orderly and beautiful when my real life is rarely perfect!

    I hope you and your family had a nice Christmas in the real world! 🙂

  54. Lesley says:

    Well said… a glimpse of ‘reality’ is comforting to us all : )

  55. well said! i know just what you mean…i hope you and your family had a wonderful christmas!

  56. Jennifer says:

    Marvelously said. Blogland is such an odd place, and I really like how you addressed that here. Thank you. And happy new year.

  57. Jeni says:

    Really well put Anna! 🙂

    Hope you and your family are enjoying a really lovely holiday season!

  58. amy says:

    So true! It is nice to have a positive place to go sometimes though, and you do that for all of us Anna!!

  59. la.daridari says:

    I agree with you…
    and I love my blog, too: it is a place where I always be authentically me, and where I can find unperfect but lovely people (like you) and, post after post, a little more of my person.
    Happy Christmas Holiday!
    Daria

  60. Anna says:

    Anna, so glad you mentioned this post. I was off the radar through the holidays because husband was off for the week and I am working on a pretty adenturesome knitting project. Im trying to find balance in my life. Living it. Its hard when blogland seems so perfect……. real life can be so messy. 😉 Cant wait for the inspiration this New Year! Thank you…..

  61. Anna, thank you so much for this post! I really needed it. Some of my favorite blogs are filled with wonderful craft projects, beautiful smiling children, clean homes, etc. I often think how do they keep it all going? Yes, I sewed today but the laundry didn’t get folded. I played with my kids today but I didn’t have any me time. The bathrooms got cleaned but my kids didn’t see much of me today. How to balance it all? Thanks for letting me know that it isn’t so easy all the time.

  62. Jacqui says:

    Very true and even if we know it on one level it’s always good to be reminded that no matter how perfect or lucky a person seems, there is a real life and real struggles and challenges and things that go wrong too. Sometimes people say to me that they can’t believe everything I get done for my blog and how do I find the time and I find myself looking at them in puzzlement because surely I don’t come across that way? I don’t mean to anyways because it’s totally not true and I know I’m always in awe at other bloggers who seem do 10X as much – perhaps blogs distort the space time continuum in some way, or impart super-human powers to ordinary people with very messy houses and kids who say “mummy, you’ve been on the computer for aaaaages”?

  63. Delia says:

    You are a beautiful person Anna! You said it perfectly. 🙂

  64. Sarah R says:

    I am the same way. My most private stuff stays in my mind because I don’t know how it will be received by my audience, and I am always afraid of someone I know in real life stumbling upon my blog.

  65. Visiting blogs and updating my own blogs with crafty things is my “social” time as I’m in a rural area. This is how I keep my brain active and if it wasn’t for other crafty bloggers like you I’d have a pretty boring life. Thanks for sharing your craft with us and being one of my ‘getaway’ places :).
    Hugs,
    Robyn

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