How to Have a Merry (Busy) Christmas

I can hardly believe Christmas is almost here. It’s my absolute favorite month of the whole year, and I’m excited about all of the stuff that will be going on. There’s no doubt that things can get a little wild during December, especially when you have kids and you have forty different parties and programs and events to go to. And, as much as I love all of that, I have been known to let the busy-ness get in the way of having the kind of Christmas that I really WANT to have: the kind that is focused on Jesus, on glorifying His name, and on enjoying the time with my children during these too-short years.

A few Christmases ago I got so caught up in all of the things that I needed to do that I found myself spending the whole holiday checking things off of my list. I didn’t look forward to or really enjoy anything. I just spent the entire month of December wanting all of it to be over. I decided that I was never going to have another Christmas like that. When it was over, I felt like I had missed the fun of the whole thing, just because I said yes to too many things that didn’t matter instead of reserving some time for our family to really experience the joy and peace of Christmas. There was nothing peaceful at all about my month of dreading one event after the other. So, since that time I made some fairly practical changes in our December lives. Maybe you need to make some similar changes this year!

First, I moved all of the must-do events that I was in charge of to the beginning of the month. Most years we host a Christmas open house for our church. We decorate to the hilt and recruit some amazing church members to help with delicious treats, and then we open our doors and have a great evening with our church family. At church we do a children’s Christmas pageant that Chad and I and some other wonderful church members are in charge of. Since I am a major player in these events, I try to make sure that we do them as early in the month as possible. It helps me so much to get my big responsibilities done early in December because I can enjoy them more, knowing that I still have plenty of month left to focus on my family and the kids’ various Christmas activities.

Next, I stopped sending Christmas cards. As much as I love Christmas cards, since social media helps me keep up with my friends and family, I decided cards were one non-essential that I could remove from my list.

I also stopped dreading events and started making a point of enjoying them. It can be easy to get a Bah Humbug attitude during the holidays, even if you truly love Christmas, like I do. So, I decided to make the conscious effort to just relax and enjoy all of the different events. I think the key to doing this is just taking one day at a time. Instead of looking at the calendar and getting dizzy thinking about how there are forty things to go to, just look at what you are doing today. And, then really try to be in the moment. Stop and appreciate how your kids will never be these particular ages again. Really enjoy the concert where your fifth grader is playing “Jolly Old Saint Nicholas” on the recorder. Consider how cute it is when your first grader sings “All I Want for Christmas is My Two Front Teeth.” Instead of sitting at every program and party thinking about all of the things you should be or could be doing, just enjoy where you are.

Next, I started taking real steps to focus our family on Christ during the holidays. Santa comes to our house, but I always want to be sure that we are talking a lot more about Jesus than about Santa at Christmastime. Once my kids got big enough for us to do some things together to help focus our hearts on Him, I found that it added so much meaning to my Christmas, too, to talk about the Savior and spend time contemplating the miracle of His coming to earth.

Finally, I let go of the pressure to be perfect. In the end, I decided that not everything has to be done at Christmas. Not every little decoration has to be Instagram-worthy. Not every food has to be homemade from scratch. Not every parade and show have to be attended. Not every gift has to be wrapped in a way that would make Martha Stewart proud. Christmas isn’t about showing off or being the perfect mother or creating some kind of magazine-ready magical world for your family. Spend time with your kids giggling on the couch. Watch silly Christmas movies while you eat two-minute microwave popcorn. Teach your kids that Jesus is the only gift that really matters. And have a truly merry Christmas.