A Christmas Without The Chaos.....Yes, Please!

I have had an epiphany!  Some of you may have already had this realization, but I'm a late bloomer. Here it is:  It's okay to not make everything "perfect" at Christmas.  There, I said it.  Take a deep breath and stick with me here....

We sat down to dinner tonight (a meal I threw together quickly after an afternoon spent baking more cookies), and I was stressed, overwhelmed, tired - you name it, I was feeling it.  As I sat at the table my girls rattled off what they wanted me to make for their class Christmas parties on Friday. What we still needed to purchase for their class gift exchange, and what we should make for their teacher's.  I just sighed and mumbled something about not being able to make the homemade caramel corn that I intended to, and perhaps store-bought cookies weren't a bad idea after all.  My husband looked at me, then turned to the girls and said, "let's give mommy a break." A break!  Yes!  That's it!  I want a break!  I want it so bad I can taste it.

After dinner I went to the basement to collect the last load of laundry for the night and it dawned on me...why CAN'T the kids take store-bought cookies to their parties on Friday?  Kid's don't care.  Kid's love Oreo's. So, if the cookies for school can be store-bought, why can't the cinnamon rolls that I've been wanting to make for Christmas morning be store-bought, too...like the Pillsbury pop-out-of-a-can and bake type?  Why can't the gift's for the kids teacher's simply be a hand-written thank you card from each child expressing their gratitude to their teacher?   Why not?  I really don't think the world will stop spinning if I send in Oreo's instead of homemade candy cane cookies.  I think I will still be welcome at my family get-together if I take brownies from a box instead of a tray of beautifully decorated cookies.  Christmas morning will arrive whether I've made the perfect breakfast casserole, and homemade cinnamon rolls (cereal's good enough for the other day's of the year, why not Christmas, too).  

So, here it is...I am giving myself permission to not create what I think is the perfect Christmas.  I have been trying to function as a person who does not have a 6 month old baby to care for, that decided not to nap well this afternoon, and was a little extra fussy.  Instead, I AM a mom with a fussy 6 month old (and sometimes a fussy 10, 7 & 5 year old) that didn't nap well.  Trying to get two batches of cookies done, because I was feeling behind on my Christmas baking, only added to the stress of a fussy baby, instead of being a fun project.  What I needed to do was rock Sadie more, do my best to ease her fussiness, and not worry that the cut-out cookies haven't been made yet.

I posted a couple of weeks ago that I wanted to keep it in perspective this holiday season.  When I feel stressed I need to turn my eyes on Jesus.  The best way I know to do that is to tell myself that it's okay if I haven't made every recipe that we ALWAYS have every year.  It's okay if I scale back on how many cards I send this year, and if they don't get sent until January, that's going to be okay, too.  It's okay if I send Oreo's to school, and don't make the caramel corn.  It's okay....my kids are growing up too quickly, and I don't want their biggest Christmas memory to be that I was always frazzled trying to make everything just so. Remembering that I never sat down and just snuggled by the tree and read books, watched movies, or talked about the true meaning of Christmas.

So, I am giving myself permission to let it go this year.  I already feel better just knowing I don't have to do it all.  I was the one setting the bar high, no one else was.  Let's do ourselves a favor and cherish our family and friends a little more.  Snuggle those little ones that are growing too quickly, and turn our eyes on Jesus.  Christmas without cut-out's is still Christmas.  :)