Butter a Cracker, Make a Memory

"Just butter the crackers, Lizz."

That is what I've told myself this week as I've been tempted to get overwhelmed at all I want to do before Christmas morning.

You see, my grandma almost always served butter with crackers as an appetizer. She isn't much of a cook. I love her dearly and say that with a heart full of love.

Despite her culinary challenges, my grandma and grandpa's house was always open to us. I don't remember what she served for dinner. I have no idea how much of it was from scratch or how much of it was simply heated and tossed onto her own dish to make it look homemade. I don't recall what else was served as an appetizer besides the old standby of butter and crackers.

It doesn't matter.

My children likely won't remember (or even know this year for that matter) if the cupcakes to celebrate Jesus' birthday were made from scratch of if I bought them at the Target bakery. They won't remember if we had homemade cinnamon rolls on Christmas morning or a quick breakfast of waffles and scrambled eggs.

Will they recall if the packages were perfectly wrapped with tidy little bows?

I doubt it.

Yet, will they remember the time we spend together playing games, baking cookies, and visiting the most festive parts of the city?

I dare say they will.

So, if in order to make Christ-centered family memories , I have to serve butter on crackers, so be it.

If my children feel half as loved in my house as I felt in my grandma and grandpa's, I'll say our Christmas was merry indeed.