It's December! And somehow that makes my heart beat a little bit faster. The list in my head is growing longer and longer each day (get the Christmas tree, put up the decorations, design the Christmas cards, finish the shopping, frost the christmas cookies, mail the presents, etc. etc. etc.)
I love Christmas. I always have. But Christmas as a mother of three is leaving me a little breathless. There is a fine line between making Christmas a special time filled with fun activities and family events, and making Christmas a harried season that's too busy and filled with stress.
So my mantra this Christmas season is to keep things calm. I am trying to be more intentional about how we celebrate this year. Choosing carefully the things we will take on as a family, skipping things I feel will add stress to the holidays and focusing on the simple things that we can do together.
My list is looking like this now: Hang the advent calendar. Trim the tree. Find some small acts of service for those in need. Read the Christmas story as a family. Mail our packages early. Enjoy our week of being still.
I will still want to make Christmas cookies with the kids, and hand sew a doll for Bee, and sew pajamas for the kids (all those years at Martha Stewart are still with me). But I will choose carefully the projects I take on, and if I feel the stress rising, I will put things aside. I don't want my children to look back at holidays and remember a mother who was stressed and crazed and taking on way too much.
If anything, I want the days surrounding Christmas to have a special feeling. Calm. Peaceful. Loving. And that is how I would like my children to remember their mother at Christmas too. (Why is this harder than it sounds?)