The month of December, if you are celebrating any type of holiday, is often stress filled. I could probably post a list of expectations of things that need to be done. While the parents are trying to do it all, often the children are so filled with anticipation and excitement that their behavior heads off track. At least it happens in our house and after parenting for the past 7 holidays, I am still struggling to balance the joy and peace that the season brings with the stress of fitting everything in.
Here is the thing, whose expectations are we really trying to meet? I think children really do have much simpler expectations than what we portray. In fact this year I have to admit that in a way to find joy in the season, we have let some things go. There are no lights on the exterior of our house this year, no gingerbread house to decorate, or homemade fudge. This year we are hosting dinner on Christmas day and we are ordering the food. That means no rush to the grocery store and that we can relax and enjoy the dinner too. I didn't make any homemade ornaments or frame pictures for the grandparents. Better yet, we don't even have an Elf on the Shelf and the PNP has not even sent the kids their Santa message. There will always be more gifts to buy or cute crafts to make, but maybe I will get to them next year. The thing is I have done enough to give my children and our family a great Christmas.
So this year let an older relative host for dinner, buy gift bags for presents, and tell Santa not to wrap the stocking suffers.
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