I get so frustrated hearing about all these people who are so stressed about Christmas, who "can't wait till it's over," and so on. Am I the only person in the world who doesn't stress (too much) about Christmas? I used to, but I've scaled down in a lot of ways, and just stopped doing the things that stressed me out.
GIFT GIVING: We have scaled down so much that the kids generally get one "big" gift, which is probably not big compared to a lot of families, and a few small gifts. I usually get them a new article of clothing and maybe a toy or book or something else age appropriate. We exchange gifts with my family, and my children exchange gifts with each other. It's pretty simple, really. I wrapped all of our gifts last weekend, so I don't even have that hanging over my head.
DECORATING: We put up a tree, our nativity and a few other simple but meaningful decorations, and some lights in our windows. I would like to do outside lights, but maybe in a few years. Meanwhile, we just won't win our neighborhood yard decorating contest. But our family room looks very pretty.
BAKING: I bake when I feel like it. I don't feel pressured to put together huge plates of different varieties of cookies. In fact this year, I think I'm going to give out bags of caramel corn or something when we go caroling. I make cookies at home for my family to enjoy, which is something I do year round. Only I'm making Christmasy type cookies in December.
CHRISTMAS CARDS: I wish everyone a Merry Christmas on Facebook, on my blog, by email, phone or in person. I refuse to stress myself out (and use a good portion of my budget) by sending out cards. And I won't feel guilty about it either. So take me off your list, if you must. I still love you, but I want to enjoy the season with my children.
PARTY-GOING: We still attend holiday gatherings, but with the ages of our children, it's not a stress anymore because we don't have to hire sitters for adult parties. Plus our lifestyle is so busy that we don't really notice too much of an increase in busy-ness.
One of the things that my family really enjoys doing is singing. Each year we go Christmas caroling (and I must say, we're pretty good!), and we sing a lot at home, in the car, etc. I feel like the Christmas tree and the Christmas music are the two most important things to help us feel the Christmas spirit.
What things about Christmas stress you out? I feel so liberated since I eliminated some of those stressors from my holidays. I love the Christmas season and I don't want to be wishing it away. Only two more weeks! I want to enjoy them!
8 comments:
This post would make a perfect lesson for Relief Society. Amen Sister.
I usually don't stress much either. But this year wrapping was stressing me out! Thankfully I just spent most of the day yesterday and got it out of the way. Now I'm stressing about my messy house so I'm going to spend the day getting it clean. Once that is done hopefully the next couple weeks will be stress free.
Amen! And ditto to everything... except the singing! You do NOT want to hear my family singing!
This year is only stressing me out because the house is "under construction" and we haven't even gotten the tree up yet. But I agree that this should be a relaxing and fun time to spend with your family. Why all the expectations?
I pretty much agree with every thing you said. Especially the Christmas cards and the gift giving. I try to keep the gifts we get for our kids to a minimum. I truly believe that they will be better off for it in the end. It really is about the choices we make. If you don't want to be stressed then make the decisions that help destress the holidays. Share it with the world, Leslie!
The only part of Christmas that is stressing me out is attending parties with my kids. I don't have older kids to watch mine so it makes it not so much fun to attend, especially when you have kids that *think* they're old enough to do things by themselves.
Other than that, I am striving to have a stress-free holiday. Which is pretty difficult being 8 months pregnant and all.
I love your positive attitude. I'm gonna call you when I'm ready to kill my mother on the 24th.
I think you're right that we stress ourselves out and we don't enjoy the process. I am officially enjoying the process now. Thanks for the reminder.
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