Slowing Down this Holiday Season

Everywhere you go during the month of December you're bombarded by the busy rush of preparing for Christmas. Everywhere you look things are being promoted to you. Gifts to buy, decorations that you just gotta have, food you have to make, etc. It's all enough to make us feel a little crazy, isn't it?

For us, it is somewhat inevitable that we WILL be busy at this time of year. This is the month where we attend a lot of parties and gatherings with friends and family plus we still have all our regular stuff going on like Awana and sports for the girls. But we also have a choice to make in just how crazy we make ourselves, yes?

Today I want to share a few blog posts that have truly inspired me lately as well as a couple quick tips that I have found helpful over the years.

One thing I am slowly learning year by year is to let go of those feelings of what a 'perfect' Christmas needs to look like. I shamefully admit I've spent too many times stressing out because we didn't get that perfect photo or my house didn't look magazine worthy or plans just simply didn't pan out as I had hoped they would. Some times even our best laid plans can fall through. One year I was so excited to attend our annual Christmas brunch for our MOMS group at church and that morning I woke up with the stomach bug. What a disappointment to have to miss such a wonderful morning! We also had a Christmas Eve and Christmas day a few years back when half of our family had the stomach bug. My poor daughter could hardly enjoy opening her gifts because she felt so icky. So yes, plans can change, life gets in the way, things don't always turn out the way we want.

This week my friend Jessica had a great post about this idea of perfectionism. I hope you'll go here to check it out.

Another post that has inspired me today was from Emily at Chatting at the Sky. She shares the idea that a gift doesn't have to be something you buy in a store, click here to read the 10 gifts you can give that won't cost you a cent, but will have lasting worth. {Bonus, her post today is also a giveaway of her book, which I have and am LOVING!}

This post, from my friend Sarah, is where she says what she's NOT doing this year. It's OK to say to yourself 'I don't have to do it all, every year.' It's OK. Let me repeat ... It's okaaaayyy! Choose a couple favorite traditions and let the rest go. It's more about enjoying what you ARE doing, then trying to cram in so much that no one's enjoying it anymore.

My personal goal this year is to slow down. Enjoy the moments. Disconnect from electronic things and just be.all.there. A friend Mindy talks about this here.

And lastly, here is something I started doing a bunch of years ago and it works well for me. I know this won't be everyone's ideal way to spend the season, but for me, it helps me immensely. You ready? Here it is - my big, Christmas time 'secret' .... I try to have all the busy things done by the 2nd week in December. This means I start in early November and over the course of several weeks I get most of the things done. So by the 2nd week in December I hope to have:
*all gifts bought
*all cards bought, addressed and mailed out
*parties and such penciled in on the calendar
*decor up, tree up, etc

Does it always happen as I had planned? Nope. Of course not. But this is my goal each year. Why? Because then I can spend those last 2 weeks before Christmas simply enjoying ... reading with my girls, baking together, driving around looking at lights, wrapping gifts in the evening while the girls are in bed, watching fun Christmas movies all snuggled together, dancing and singing to Christmas carols together. Just soaking in the season. And that is my goal.

I also adopt a more relaxed school schedule in December too. It's nice to give ourselves a little leeway so we can use the extra time to bake or work on making gifts for people or just more reading and snuggle time. I know there will be lots of cold January days when we'll have plenty of time to do school work, but Christmas comes only once a year and the book work will always be there after the season.

I know myself enough to know that I cannot be a last minute person, I get easily stressed out when I try to do things last minute. I know several people who THRIVE in that situation, but I get cranky and crazy when I leave things until the last minute. So for me to truly enjoy the season, this needs to be my goal.

I hope that each of you will find a way to slow down and enjoy this Christmas season. If you haven't already, you should check out my previous post which is a giveaway, and take a few minutes to read through the comments on how other people find rest and peace at this time of year.