1. Cooking
You knew this would be first on the list, didn't you? Listen, if I manage to feed the fam something for breakfast every morning, eat 5/7 lunches at home each week, and I cook something 'real' three-ish nights a week (usually in addition to feeding a few extra people here and there, and also hosting some'thing' each week). I'm winning. Period. Some people love spending their Christmas season in the kitchen cooking wonderful meals filled with love for their family, but I am not one of those people. In my opinion, Christmas is not the time to spend hours in the kitchen when there are Christmas cards to send, lights to hang, and Hallmark movies to watch.
2. Extravagant Advent Calendars
I didn't realize this was such a THING until this year. Apparently we're in a slightly different age bracket than we were the past two years now that we officially have a toddler. There are approximately ONE MILLION wonderful ways to 'do' Advent with your family and just thinking about the options and the activities had me in an internal tailspin so I shut that down QUICK. Let me tell you what we'll be doing...Mommy is doing a She Reads Truth Advent study, Maverick is reading a lot of books about Jesus being born aaaaaand that's it. Occasionally I'll pull out Tripp's Advent devotional at breakfast and I also have a small devotional about the names of Jesus I might read to the boys too. We will serve and give and do a few things here and there this month but nothing that stresses the calendar. Someday we will hit this whole Avent thing harder, but this is not that year.
3. Precious Memory-Making
We do not buy into this idea that our life 100% revolves around our child. We do up Christmas the way we love to, and Mav comes along for the ride...obviously making memories in the process. I do not force special crafts or frosting cookies or hanging ornaments as a family on Josh and Mav. I do those things on my own because I like to, and there are many things we do as a family for some 'extra' fun at Christmas...but for the most part we keep December as CALM as possible. Things that are non-negotiable priorities? Church every week in December and church on Christmas Eve. Everything else is open to being shuffled off the calendar or re-prioritized for another year/time.
4. Family
In the past eight years Josh and I have Christmas-sed together, at some point, family during the holiday season has been stressful. Whether it's been siblings or schedules or plans...I think it's something every married couple has to navigate. Here is what I'll say to you...DO WHAT IS BEST FOR YOUR FAMILY. Not his family or her family, literally YOUR IMMEDIATE NUCLEAR family. If that means staying home on Thanksgiving Day to relax and do your own thing? Do it. If it means saying no to eight extended family Christmas gatherings (this is real, I have a friend who attends eight family Christmases) in the name of your sanity? Do it. This is the last year Josh and I will be rotating Christmas Eve/Day between our families because I want to attend OUR church on Christmas Eve, wake up in OUR house on Christmas Day, and have a relaxing, memorable day filled with OUR own laid-back traditions. I'll be honest, it doesn't seem to be a very popular decision within the ranks but everyone will need to adjust.
5. Too Many Traditions
Here are the traditions I value the most to this day from my own childhood: decorating the house for Christmas the weekend after Thanksgiving; the Christmas Eve service at church; and presents in the morning in our pajamas. And that's it. So easy. If I can preserve those special basic things for my own family (keep in mind the decorating is all me at this point...so it's really only two things), I'll feel successful. Of course there are other things I love and remember growing up...like getting three presents on Christmas morning because Jesus only received three presents...watching certain ridiculous Christmas movies...coloring by the Christmas tree...playing games...putting a giant 1,000 piece puzzle together...those things can come and go, but my top three aren't going anywhere. Simplify. Prioritize. And be confident about your decision to block extra crap off the calendar. Find what's MOST important for you and your family and stick to it.
6. Baking
I like to eat frosted Christmas sugar cookies, so because of that fact alone, I bake a tube of sugar cookies and frost them. I buy a gingerbread house in a box kit because that's kind of a fun thing to whip out and do as a family on a night in December but it usually ends up being a funny disaster. And therein lies the memory. I like helping my mom with some of her dipping and baking and frosting when we're at home around Christmas, but for some reason that's way more fun than doing it on my own. I certainly wouldn't stress out about unnecessary baking unless it ranks in YOUR top priorities.
Here's a bucket list of some of our other favorite Christmas activities (not mentioned above), in no particular priority order. Just stuff I like to make a list of so if I'm having trouble remembering a fun thing to do on an open Saturday morning, I can go to the list. And because I keep our calendar/schedule super simple, there is margin to take off and do some of this stuff (within reason).
- Host Thanksgiving
- Pella Tour of Homes
- Ames Tour of Homes
- Humboldt Hill
- Humboldt Parade of Trees
- Humboldt Christmas Parade
- Jolly Holiday Lights
- Live Nativity
- Train at Reiman Gardens
- SRT Advent Study
- Dead Week Slumber Party
- Drives to Look at Lights
- Downtown Ames Activities (Train December 10th!)
- Decorate Boersma House
- Decorate Keil House
- Decorate G'mas Tree
- Watch a Christmas Movie in the Man Cave
- Make Christmas Trees
- Visit Strautman Tree Farm
- Hotel Christmas with DeGroot & Sargent Families
Ultimately, if December is filled with too much stuff and stress that we lose sight of what we're celebrating...there's a problem. Maybe it's time for you to pull back and simplify...to say 'no we won't be attending' to work/friends/family. I am not a high-capacity person by nature (I can only do about three things at a time WELL), so accepting that during the holiday's can be tricky. It takes practice, but I can tell you it's so worth it.
Just don't ask me about the year we were fixing up a farmhouse in November and December.
Merry Christmas, ya filthy animals!
MmB
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