You might say that I have lost my mind if I said that I have a stress free Christmas. 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.
READ GODS WORD EVERY MORNING
Starting my day with Gods Word seems obvious, but sometimes gets left out. I need to hear from God & speak to God each day so I am strengthened and ready to be the mom He wants me to be. At breakfast, we have family devotions and can start our kids day on the right foot as well. Each of the kids know they are to read their Bible when they wake up. Of course, some need a little more reminding than others.
DON'T DO EVERY ACTIVITY THAT COMES ALONG
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 kids to experience everything that is Christmas. It seems what happened is that I began to harbor uneasiness that would usually blow up around Christmas Eve. ('Im sure nobody has experienced this.)
WHICH ACTIVITIES DO I SELECT
What works for our family is to choose 1 or 2 Christmas activities to attend outside our home. Anything else we do is done in our home. One of the best ways this reduces stress is that I am not "persuading my husband to attend one more Christmas activity each week. He still spends all day working to provide for our family. Consequently, he is much happier going to a few activities and enjoying our family & friends at home.
We enjoy having others in our home, so we capitalize on this. Our children help us clean & cook, so our work is reduced and I am not stressed when our guests arrive.
ENJOY YOUR HOME
Back then, I would 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 CANT 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 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 was their profit, which was used to buy useful gifts for a missionary family.
This season we will 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. Im 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
If you homeschool, 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 morning and then proceed to work on a Christmas activity. It may be handwork type crafts or other quiet easy to do activity.
FEELING OVERBURDENED DURING THE HOLIDAYS? Pause right now and rank each activity according to importance. Then, choose only 1 or 2 activities that the whole family will love and do the rest another time.
Its a wonderful experience having your family at home. Invite another over to roast marshmallows and have fun with the fellowship. And don't forget, keep your eyes and hearts focused on the Child Jesus. Without His love for mankind, you won't 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 - 15359
READ GODS WORD EVERY MORNING
Starting my day with Gods Word seems obvious, but sometimes gets left out. I need to hear from God & speak to God each day so I am strengthened and ready to be the mom He wants me to be. At breakfast, we have family devotions and can start our kids day on the right foot as well. Each of the kids know they are to read their Bible when they wake up. Of course, some need a little more reminding than others.
DON'T DO EVERY ACTIVITY THAT COMES ALONG
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 kids to experience everything that is Christmas. It seems what happened is that I began to harbor uneasiness that would usually blow up around Christmas Eve. ('Im sure nobody has experienced this.)
WHICH ACTIVITIES DO I SELECT
What works for our family is to choose 1 or 2 Christmas activities to attend outside our home. Anything else we do is done in our home. One of the best ways this reduces stress is that I am not "persuading my husband to attend one more Christmas activity each week. He still spends all day working to provide for our family. Consequently, he is much happier going to a few activities and enjoying our family & friends at home.
We enjoy having others in our home, so we capitalize on this. Our children help us clean & cook, so our work is reduced and I am not stressed when our guests arrive.
ENJOY YOUR HOME
Back then, I would 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 CANT 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 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 was their profit, which was used to buy useful gifts for a missionary family.
This season we will 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. Im 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
If you homeschool, 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 morning and then proceed to work on a Christmas activity. It may be handwork type crafts or other quiet easy to do activity.
FEELING OVERBURDENED DURING THE HOLIDAYS? Pause right now and rank each activity according to importance. Then, choose only 1 or 2 activities that the whole family will love and do the rest another time.
Its a wonderful experience having your family at home. Invite another over to roast marshmallows and have fun with the fellowship. And don't forget, keep your eyes and hearts focused on the Child Jesus. Without His love for mankind, you won't 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 - 15359
About the Author:
Kerry Beck offers free advent calendars with daily Christmas activities to prepare you for Christmas. you will discover more about Christmas activities with some of the daily ideas.
