It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year! (sing it with me!)
Christmas is my favorite time of year. Not just the day, the entire season and everything about it. The religion, the music, the weather, the smells, the smiles, the movies, the traditions, the generosity of so many, all of it – people truly just seem happier during the holidays.
Believe in the Magic of Christmas is my favorite Christmas phrase – so much so, it has graced my Christmas card every single year. Because it is truly magical!
With all of the wonderful memories Christmas provides, pie baking, giggles, wine, the perfect well-thought-out-gifts, there is the stress. Oh. My. Word. The stress.
As a mother, I think it’s even worse. The stress of making sure everything is ready for Christmas morning, the shopping, the cooking, the decorating, you traveling to family or family traveling to you, oh my! You just want everything to be perfect for everyone, even though you know that really isn’t possible. We do know that, right?
How do we set ourselves up to have the most successful holiday?
Planning.
I know it’s hard.
And we are so busy. So very busy. How do we take the time to worry about Christmas far in advance?
First, figure out what is the most important to you.
Clearly everyone is going to have a different answer for this. I mean, the outcome is going to be the same no matter how much we put into it, right? December 25th will come and go no matter how many Pintrest posts we try to emulate, how many dollars you spend…it’s a day, and then it’s gone. But really I think it all comes down to seeing smiles on your kiddos faces. Making them too believe in the Magic of Christmas!
Second, schedule.
Give yourself a chance to enjoy the holiday. You don’t have to go to every Christmas Party that you are invited to! And you don’t have to celebrate every single thing! Just say no!
When we got married, my husband’s family had their traditions, and my family had their traditions. Christmas Eve, Christmas, Santa, gift giving, and so on. They all fit together well enough, it was just the two of us after all – there was some compromise, of course, one family gets Christmas Eve, the other Christmas morning, maybe the day after with one – you see where I’m going with this…
Fast forward to when we started having kids…I was old wise enough to realize that I was going to have to decide what things were important for my family. It’s a lot to think about.
Third, make memories.
What do you want your kids to remember? A lot of our Christmas traditions and schedule came down to things I remembered from when I was young. The things that made Christmas special.
Making Christmas work for your family is what it is all about. A little give here a little take there and it all comes together….and you don’t have to get it all right the first year…you’ve got years to screw it all up, so just enjoy each year and make small adjustments the next year!
Fourth, get the Santa situation under control.
My husband’s family wrapped all their gifts and they sat around as a family and opened them. Santa never wrapped a gift at my house (who knew my Santa was so brilliant?). One thing I knew for sure was I wanted for us was to wake up at our home Christmas morning so we could see if Santa came. (and we are lucky enough that all of our family lives close enough that this was an option!)
We made some compromises and did some transitioning over the years but I highly recommend the not wrapping deal!!!!
Fifth, make sure it all fits!
How to get it all in? It’s so hard to get the very important religious part of Christmas in sometimes when there is so much excitement around Santa coming! And we still do the same thing that my parents did with us. We sing Happy Birthday to Jesus on Christmas morning!
Of course we go to church and do all of the usual things, but it is such a neat tradition that my mother did and her mother before that, started when we were kids and it’s such a cool reminder in the mix of all of the excitement of Christmas morning.
Whatever you do, Christmas will be full of memories – the good remembered with a warm smile, and the bad with loads of laughter…or we can hope!
Merry Christmas, Everyone!
