All I want for Christmas is YOU!
TEN WAYS to make Christmas more meaningful!
Years ago, as a young mother I found myself exhausted during the Christmas season. It is supposed to be a Season of Joy…but I was absolutely drained! It seemed the faster I ran, the more I discovered I needed to do. Inevitably when talking with other women, I would hear of another great idea I wanted to implement in our already exploding life-to create that “perfect” Christmas for my family. I thought that was my job! How do you make the Christmas season special? I thought running faster was the answer. Actually, its not. It’s moving slower and being present for people that matters.
I read a book called something like “Unplug the Christmas Machine” as I realized that Christmas machine was me! I knew I needed to change. I wondered how I could enjoy the Christmas holidays… I challenge you to sit down and contemplate what really matters to you. YOU decide how to make the Christmas season more magical, making memories that will impact YOUR family.
#1-First of all, SIMPLIFY!!!
I was overloading myself with too much! Too much of just about everything, but especially shopping! This was before “Amazon” where you actually had to go to the mall to look for gifts. When could I go, where do I “store” gifts that no one could find, would they LOVE it, did I buy equal amounts for everyone… it was a lot of stress! December brought a new level of intensity. What was I teaching my kids, that “to get more” was better? Soooo many times, less is more. I had to really contemplate what I was doing and why.
#2-I identified what our family traditions were
and wrote them down in a Christmas album. Are you wondering where to buy Christmas albums online? Creative Memories offers beautiful 12x12 size Christmas albums. I can’t tell you how freeing that was to put my thoughts in a Christmas album! It was a place to record what mattered to us and frankly, a physical reminder of what we did, year to year. I could open it up and just refresh my memory! We didn’t have to do what anyone else was doing… There was a lot of letting go. I HIGHLY recommend it! Writing it down in a permanent place allowed me to release it from my brain and be stored somewhere else. I could always add in something if I wanted to, but my path was very deliberate and I owned it- it was mine. Our kids loved simple things- like sleeping under the Christmas tree one night...there is something about those Christmas lights and the smell of a real tree! Those are simple things that make Christmas magical, even with covid.
I started my Christmas album in an 8 x 10 size book and it was primarily journaling with a few photos- completely opposite of what I did in my other albums. I LOVE this album! There have been several others that followed and I embossed “Christmas at Our House” on the front of them. We can look over several years in one album and I always made it my goal to have this book updated by the end of January. It gave me a GREAT sense of accomplishment to know it was- doing a few pages each year is easy to maintain. They have become our FAVORITE Christmas decoration! It is the FIRST decoration I bring out because all I have to do, is set it on the table. Everyone loves looking through them! (To learn more about creating a Christmas album, step by step, read the blog post called, “I just like Christmas…Christmas is my favorite!)
#3-I read a book called “A Christ Centered Christmas”
where each chapter dealt with characters from the Nativity. The chapter about the 3 Wisemen talked about bringing 3 gifts. The suggestion was to simplify your gift giving to your children, by selecting 3 gifts for them.
1) Something they NEED
2) Something MEANINGFUL
3) Something JOYFUL
It wasn’t about HOW MANY gifts but the thought that went into each one. Isn’t that a beautiful pattern to follow? Santa brings one gift that was a surprise. There you go! The kids picked names among each other and gave a gift to a sibling. Some years those gifts were purchased, some years we had a “homemade” Christmas and they made their gifts. It was plenty. It kept the season centered on looking outside of ourselves, instead of obsessing about what “we were going to get”. Consider giving a gift of time: special date night, mom daughter day… a gift of adventure: ski lessons, climbing lessons… a gift of service: childcare, homemade meals on a certain day each week/month. Think outside of the box to give “the gift of you.”
#4- Slow down and Read!
Sitting on the couch cuddling with my kids by the fire and reading a Christmas book is one of my most favorite memories! It FORCED me to slow down and be present and I am so glad I did! I wanted to...but implementing this tradition made it happen every single day. GIVE THE GIFT OF YOU. Wrap up 24 books in Christmas wrap and have the kids unwrap one each night. They LOVED it! It was a great behavior motivator-all day they would ask if they could be the one to open the book! The first year I did this, I had a couple of Christmas books on hand, but most of them I checked out at the local library. I would wrap enough for 2 weeks, then go back and return them and pick up some more! Each year, I purchased a Christmas book and our collection grew. Connecting emotionally helped calm them during a crazy busy month- it was something we all looked forward to! As they got older, we kept a basket of Christmas books by the couch and would spend time together reading scriptures or uplifting literature. (Buy Christmas wrap at the “after Christmas” sales and wrap those books as early as you can. As soon as I had older kids, I enlisted their help wrapping, and it encouraged some Christmas spirit when they saw how much the younger kids looked forward to it…) I noticed it defused the frenzy of ripping off Christmas paper when they could do it all month long!
#5-Lead with your heart by SERVING people!
It can be very simple but meaningful. We had a special Christmas angel that would appear throughout the house as someone in the family served anonymously. “Someone” would put toothpaste on someone else’s toothbrush and that angel would show up next to it. You had 24 hours to place the angel once you received it, so it kept moving all month. It was sweet to see where our angel would land! Volunteer as a family, use mealtimes to talk about what you are grateful for and who you saw that needs a boost. Teach kids to see deeply. That is what Christmas is all about! Help your kids write thank you notes and notice little things…by modeling it yourself. (See my blog post on the “Random Acts of Kindness” for ideas on how to implement this tradition!) This is how to make Christmas special during covid and every year beyond.
Click on button below for 5 more ideas you can consider to make your celebration meaningful.
Choose what works for you and what “fits” your life. You certainly don’t have to implement every idea out there.
The most important part of the holiday is to look outside of yourself, and may the little memories, the simple moments last a lifetime!
