Back in September we were told that we would be moving into our new house in October. Just to give myself a mental cushion I told other people and myself, “We’ve been told we can move in the end of October. Which could very easily be the beginning of November, which could very easily be Christmas.”
I honestly thought I was way overshooting it–playing it safe. But I was right. It’s looking like we’ll be getting into our house just before Christmas. Yay! We are so very, very excited. Of course a pre-Christmas move makes this hectic time of year that much more hectic. We’re obviously not putting up Christmas decorations or a tree at our current house, and of course we can’t yet decorate our new place either. And while we all learned a long time ago that Christmas doesn’t come from a store, because perhpas Christmas means a little bit more, decorating for Christmas is definitely a key element in the creation of this magical time of year. It’s an immediate visual cue that says, Hey! Something special is happening here, pay attention everyone!
So what do you do when Christmas comes during a busy season of life? Maybe you too have to forego decorations due to a major life transition. Or perhaps you’re feeling overwhelmed due to a mental health issue or finances, or in some way or another your usual Christmas merriment is being threatened by circumstances beyond your control. I can’t answer to all of those circumstances above, but here are some of my ideas for managing the Holidays while we are preparing for our upcoming move.
1. Lower my expectations // I have to start there because even as I have images of a simplified Christmas, one in which we delight in preforming acts of service for one another or caroling around our neighborhood (as we’ve done many years) I need to realize that the surest way for all of this to backfire is by setting the bar of Christmas idealism way too high. My kids will still argue, my husband and I will likely be grumpy from the move and the stress of the holidays mashed together–we are afterall still just us. If the real Grinch came to our house and stole all our decorations, food, and presents would my kids really go stand around a tree hand-in-hand smiling and singing carols? No. They would not. While we strive for the perfect Whoville Christmas spirit, I need to be realistic about our Griswald roots.
2. Refocus the Christmas senses // Decorations are largely for visual impact–the lights, the garland, the tree, the ornaments, the stockings, the wreaths–so instead I can really ramp up the other senses involved in making Christmas feel merry and bright. Lighting my favorite pine scented candle non-stop, keeping the Christmas tunes playing and while I don’t usually have treats out all the time, maybe keeping little treats–nuts, small chocolates–available will also give that little extra something special.
3. Thinking of others // We may not be perfect Whoville citizens, but we try to be good people. In the past our family has made kits for the homeless that we keep in our cars and that we give out when we see someone in need and it’s a really great thing to do. (Honestly, we’ve always had positive interactions when giving these out.) But after being without heat in our home for 2 short days last week (only 2 days!) we have all felt this renewed love and gratitude for the luxery of heat and warmth. I have often thought about making a huge pot of warm soup, driving it down town and passing it out to whoever needs it. Or maybe even hot chocolate. I want to listen to that inner voice that has those thoughts and ideas and act on one of them. And not just at Christmas (we do keep those homeless kits in our car year round) but after…. the winter will be long and people need to keep warm in January, Feburary and March as well.
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4. Experiences // Zuzu is preforming in her first ballet in the Nutcracker! PSP is putting on a school preformance of the Christmas Carol and she is Scrooge! Additionally I get to go see the production of A Christmas Carol downtown with her class AND we are going as a family as well. (The local theatre puts on my favorite Christmas Carol preformance I’ve ever seen.) Of course this does add to the busyness, but I’m excited that we’ve decided to make these experiences a key part of our Christmas this year.
5. Preparation // I have a good amount of Christmas shopping done already, and my goal is to be finished by the first week of December. I am notorious for getting a bunch of little things last minute, but I’m going to try my best to resist the “just one more thing” itch. And if I get all the presents wrapped anytime before Christmas eve I will crown myself the Queen of Christmas for all time.
6. Embrace It // When I’m going bat-shiz crazy because the idea in my head of what decorating the Christmas tree looks like is quite different than the reality (kids bickering, ornaments broken) and both our new house and our old house look like train wrecks and we’re not sure how it’s all going to get done, and the noise level is just a little too high and my patience is just a little too low I’m going to remind myself that this is what I always wanted. In fact I had one of those moments a couple days ago and I stopped and quietly said out loud, This is what you always wanted and the words buzzed in my soul while my jaw unclenched and a small smile formed on my lips. This one wild and precious life is mine and I couldn’t possibly ask for anything more and if I have to remind myself daily, so be it.
Is anyone else celebrating the holidays during a particularly busy season of life? What are you doing to help manage the added stress? The other time I remember feeling especially busy was the year Zuzu was born. She wasn’t due until New Year’s Eve, but thankfully I prepared everything ahead of time and when she was born on December 23rd and we came home late Christmas eve and still had to do a Christmas morning, most of it was ready to go. It was a crazy beautiful week. Any other tips and suggestions welcome below!
BREATH……….. Loudly, softly, under your breath ( no pun intended) just breath until you can stop thinking about breathing. That’s when the calm will come. We currently live overseas, but we own a house in Texas. It has been occupied for ten years by, hmm, how should I put this…….PEOPLE WHO DONT CARE! Anyway, we are about to remodel in preparation to move back to the states in the next year. We have very little furniture, the carpet is gross, the tile is gross, the outside is gross, the walls have some holes etc…… You get my drift. The house is bad! But! We came back for Christmas and I wanted to decorate. I flew back, a long, long way. Saudi Arabia to be exact. In fact, we are now raising our five year old grandson, so throw that cutie in the mix and we had the trip from HELL. I was tired, overwhelmed, mad, disgusted and grumpy. Oh, and grossed out! I decided I wasn’t going to decorate, just throw up a tree and call it good. Accept, all my grown children will be here, plus my five year old cutie and I quickly changed my mind. I mean, how could I not decorate the stye? My kids, my grandchild, will not notice the bad, they will see the bright shinning lights and the warm glow of love and know that they are home. So……..and this is a big SO, I BREATHED AND BREATHED AND BREATHED, until I didn’t notice I was breathing. I dug in and slapped lipstick on that pig. My kids are home and they said “ the house looks so warm and inviting”. Success! I’m so glad I made the effort. Love is the biggest thing that lives in our home, but a little lipstick makes every smile a little brighter💄💋
I love me some Miggy blogging😘
Ha! Yes, I need to slap some lipstick on this pig as well.
Thanks for the love.