I am an avid Pinterest viewer. I waste countless hours online pinning everything from books I wish to read, outfits I want to try, places I’d love to travel, to recipes I know I will never be able to recreate since cooking is not my strong suit. I mean I burn water; it is truly sad how incredibly awful of a cook I am. I had to call my father the first day of school this year and ask him how to cook a can of garden peas. However, there are days when the “Pinterest Pizazz” takes over and I feel as if I can accomplish or recreate every item I pin, like I am the Pinterest Princess and thus the problem lies. The most disappointing thing in this world by far is not having your ideas or plans not play out just as you planned them. I know in the back of my mind that the “Pizazz” I feel is simply nothing more than my imagination running wild (really, REALLY wild), yet I just cannot shake the feeling that this certain project, this certain idea will miraculously spring to life. All I can say is bless my heart to this notion and logic because it is simply rendered wrong each and every time. There have been many, many numerous fails through the years. I find this “Pizazz” strikes most often with the Holidays quickly approaching. Now when I peruse Pinterest, I find myself even more inclined to view pins of Christmas décor and ideas to make our house even more festive though I know my non-creative soul will ultimately add this to the never-ending list of Pinterest fails.

One example is the beloved notion of Elf of the Shelf. For those of you who are not aware, the Elf on the Shelf appears to children every year around Thanksgiving and keeps an eye on “said” child while reporting back to Santa each day. The trick is to move the elf daily, yet this household tends to struggle with this notion. Most days we forgot to move Sully and only notice after Maddox exclaims, “OH MY! Sully never made it to the North Pole today.” We all immediately jump into action and become ninjas… well as fast as a bunch of Shamoo ninjas can go… by distracting Maddox so someone can quickly move the elf to a new place without her little self noticing. The most comical portion of this whole scenario is that I pin idea after idea of ways to bring Sully, Maddox’s elf, to life and to ensure she is entertained and doesn’t have a boring elf throughout the year and especially around Christmas time. Once pinned, these ideas are even sent to my mother and Malone to ensure proper execution, yet we never seem to be able to bring the ideas together. Though Maddox is only three and does not realize what a failure her elf is, though I am sure that day is quickly upon us, we feel somewhat guilty by only moving Sully from place to place and never having additional themes or creativity. Our idea of creativity, well Megan’s idea, was placing Sully by the wine bottles yesterday and saying, “Bless it’s Friday.” Oh well, until Maddox says something, the ideas will continue to be pinned, yet Sully will only move from room to room and the ideas for cute themed Elf on the Shelf ideas will never take place.

Another example of wasted pins would be family Christmas cards. I do not think the Saint-Amands have sent out Christmas cards since I was ten. Every year, I scour through Pinterest trying to find picture theme ideas that we could try to duplicate, but just like the Elf on the Shelf. family pictures just do not go over well. One seventeen year old who shall remain nameless refuses to match the other twenty year old and three year old or even sit in the same vicinity as them long enough to snap a photo. The few years we thought the humans would look okay or would at least be willing to smile for a photo, Mom insisted to add the dogs to the picture and what a mess that was. Even if we did find one successful picture, the idea of choosing a Christmas card and then addressing their corresponding envelopes was too taxing and we said, “We’ll send out New Year’s cards instead.” HAHA. There have never been New Year’s cards either, so once again the “Pizazz” turns into a fail and we just hope (and pray) for better execution next year.

Now decorating has been sad many years at my home because Mom would be too lazy to put up a tree and since Malone and I were equally lazy, we would have no decorations in the house. We have such high hopes to go above and beyond, yet some years the goal is never reached. This may be the reason the Pinterest decorations appeal to me so much. I LOVE when we decorate and I love helping place ornaments on the Christmas tree just like the pins show. Though let me just say I am 20 years old and my mother still comes behind me and removes ornaments I place on the tree into a more “suitable” position (her words not mine). She must not see that the “Pinterest Pizazz” is alive and thriving within my veins.

Though our holidays are not exactly always as we plan and far from it, I would not trade one Pinterest fail for anything. These fails have brought my family many laughs through the years and allowed us to create stories that we will share for years to come. My family shares the same stories over and over again, so these fails will certainly be shared until eternity. The “Pinterest Pizazz” will continue for years and with its continuation will come fails, yet I smile and am content with this. I am not the next Picasso, the next Joanna Gaines, or the next Betty Crocker, and I have accepted this, but a girl can dream that the “Pizazz” will one day work in her favor and her Holidays will be “Pinterest Perfect.” Until then, I will settle for countless hours of pinning and no execution. Happy Holidays everyone!