Christmas... Without the Stress

You might say that I have lost my mind if I said that I have a stress free Christmass. Well, my sanity is still intact and we have had several Christmases that were stress-free in the past. I would like to tell you about the things I've learned to help reduce the stress during the Yuletide season.

AFTER WAKING IN THE MORNING, READ GOD’S WORD EVERY

Reading God’s Word seems to be the first obvious task every mom should do, but we sometimes forget that. I need to hear from him & talk to Him everyday so I am invigorated and be the mom that He wants me to be. During mealtime, we do our family devotions and jumpstart our kids' day on the proper footing as well. Each of my children know that they are to read the Bible after waking up. There are times ,of course, that one of them need a little more reminding than usual.

DON’T DO EVERY ACTIVITY THAT POPS UP

This seems quite evident, but it took me a decade to apply this. Actually, my marvelous husband helped me learn how to minimize the activity in our lives during the Christmas season.

Back then, I wanted the children to experience everything available during Christmas. Instead, stress and nervousness crept up and finally would explode around Christmas Eve or Christmas Day. (I’m positive that none of you have gone through this before :o )

WHICH ACTIVITIES DO I SELECT

What works for us is to select 1 or 2 Christmas activities to got to outside our home. Other than those 2 activities, most is spent in our home. This way I'm not harboring stress by not telling my husband to attend one more Christmas activity each week. He is still providing for our family and loving it. Therefore, he is much happier going to a few activities and enjoying being with family and friends at home.

We enjoy having other people in our home, so we take advantage on this. Our kids help in the cleaning and cooking, so our workload is minimized and I feel stressed when our visitors come.

HAVE FUN AT HOME

Back then, I would have always had more activities for us than we have time for. In our recent Thanksgiving weekend, I picked which activities will wait until next year.

REMEMBER: YOU CAN’T DO EVERY THING, EVERY YEAR.

I try to select activities that inspire my children to do something for others, instead of only thinking of themselves during the holiday season. One of the things we used to do is doing charity work by raising money for a missionary family. The kids would take orders for pumpkin bread loaves and chocolate chip cookies. After making and delivering them to their customers, they would pay me back for the ingredients and supplies used. The remaining money left was their profit which was used to buy useful stuff for a missionary family friend.

This season we like to have other kids over to bake cookies so their moms can do some Christmas shopping uninterrupted. A Christmas card stamping party for younger kids would be a great idea for an activity. I’m still thinking it over how that will work.

I have some other ideas that are included in Celebrate Advent, Christmas & Epiphany
Advent, Christmas & Epiphany Celebration Ideas

INCORPORATE CHRISTMAS YOUR SCHOOL ACTIVITIES

Drop some of your formal schoolwork and have fun during this season. There are myriad of ways of incorporating math, writing & reading concepts as we do baking, shopping and preparing for Christmas day.

At home, we still read aloud each waking hour and then proceed to work on a Christmas activity. It may be handwork type crafts or other quiet easy to do activity.

DO YOU FEEL A TREMENDOUS NERVOUS STRAIN DURING THE CHRISTMAS HOLIDAYS? Stop and take a moment right now and prioritize all the activities you and your family want to do. Pick only 1 or 2 activities that the entire family can enjoy and pass on the rest.

Being at home with your family is enjoyable. Invite another family over to roast marshmallows and mingle with them. And at the center of this Christmas activity, keep your hearts tuned to Jesus Christ. Without His love for us, we would not be celebrating the true meaning of Christmas.

But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Romans 5:8

For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God. Ephesians 2:8

Blessings,
Kerry Beck

ps. If you want to receive more ideas about celebrating Advent & Christmas, go to this website:
Advent & Christmas Celebration Ideas

Kerry Beck wants to give you a free & special Advent Countdown to use in your Advent, Christmas, Epiphany celebration this year. Her package will also provide free Advent activities.