WE ARE SO EXCITED FOR CHRISTMAS!
Does it ever seem like you hear those words and although you smile on the outside, immediate panic and dread begin to well up from within?
It’s not that you don’t like Christmas time or all it represents…it just feels like pressure to perform well at all the functions or to get just the right gift or to be sure everyone in your family stays in a festive mood or to have to decorate?
Well, we totally understand that feeling and wanted to share with you some ways we have used to overcome all those dreadful emotions.
In a previous post, I shared with you understanding grief during Christmas time, so in this post, I will focus on sharing with you ways to combat the Christmas Chaos in your heart and mind and instill that joy and peace and love back into your season.
What we are referring to is removing all the commercialism and pretense that has surrounded Christmas now and replacing it with indwelling calm and peacefulness and joy no matter the circumstances.
So, without further ado, here is our hopefully helpful list of ways to have some simple and practical solutions during the Christmas season:
7 Surefire Ways to Catch The Christmas Spirit
1. DECORATE EARLY!
OK, ok, I know this sounds like typical or silly advice, but let’s unpack this for a minute, shall we?
If decorating is time-consuming, evolving as it goes, and gets you in the Christmas spirit, why would you NOT do it early? Get the decorating done early, so you aren’t doing that in the middle of everything else. It’s so nice to come home to a home with lights and smells and sights of Christmas.
Now, I will embarrass myself and say I like to decorate for Christmas early in November. For myself, it helps me have peace about my days coming home to the twinkling lights and the tree. Did you notice I keep saying lights? I use lots of lights. I find them inspiring…no matter how dark it gets, they pierce the darkness. Whether your preference is white or colors or all blue or all red, go crazy with the lights, and not just on the tree. I hang and leave white lights all year round on my patio over my window, in my dining room over my bay windows, and in my master bedroom over and around my window. There is an effervescent hope that wells up when it gets dark and the twinkling of the tiny light pierces right through it! My soul experiences an inner calmness. Use them inside and outside, or just inside and wait to let your crazy show on the outside until just after Thanksgiving?
2. GET THE SMELL OF CHRISTMAS IN THE AIR!
Did you know that our sense of smell is STRONGLY connected to memory and emotion? As we inhale, the scent goes straight to our olfactory nerve and then to the limbic system which controls our memory and emotion. So, for myself, I loved the smell of my mom’s wassail growing up and kept that tradition going when I moved out on my own, whether single or with roommates, eventually married, and then married with kids, I always make my mom’s wassail recipe around the holidays. That being said, maybe for you it is peppermint candies or the smell of Christmas cookies being baked in the oven, or the pine or fir tree freshly cut to bring home for your family tree. Whatever the smell, if you can’t do it right away (I can’t make my mom’s wassail recipe every day), think of using Essential Oils as a super healthy natural way to get the smell going.
In fact, as I type this article, I just put in my diffuser the following homemade recipe for recreating the wassail smell:
3 drops orange
3 drops citrus fresh
3 drops clove
4 drops cinnamon bark
Now, that I type this recipe, I realize I could probably add nutmeg as well! yum! That being said, peppermint oil smells heavenly this time of year and I could even diffuse the wintergreen or Idaho balsam fir for a lovely Christmas scent!
3. START AN ADVENT CALENDAR!
The great thing about advent calendars is that they can be unique to your family.
You can buy premade ones that let the kids read a story each day or get a candy each day. We started years ago by making our own DIY Pottery Barn inspired burlap advent calendar.
Early on before December, I think of actual and practical things that will work for our family right now as service-minded ideas and type them up in a simple word document (I am working on custom made ones to be added to our shop next year).
I then look at our calendar for the month and see what items are practical to do on which day for our family and then insert those items in those particular days. For example, if it is “write your coaches and teachers a thank you note”, it won’t be practical for me to put that on a day that we will be out of town for the holidays. I like to focus on service because, in this world, it seems our kids already are programmed to think its all about them, so I want them to get in the habit of and enjoy serving others.
However, whatever your circumstances or life, there are are many other options of what you can put in the advent calendar.
Some of those include the Christmas story, love notes to your kids, a word of the day to focus on, sweet treats, a name of someone to write a letter or make a phone call to, etc. This is honestly one of my kid’s favorite traditions since we started it a few years back and every year they ask when I am going to hang it up!
And it really doesn’t matter if you are single, married with no kids, married with kids, single parent, retired, or what station of life you are in…advent calendars are good for all ages!
4. GET IN THE KITCHEN!
OK, this one is truly hard for me. Anyone who knows me knows how true this really is that I am not a natural kitchen body or a great cook. When I finally do get in the kitchen, I enjoy my time there, but it’s not where I’m naturally inclined to be or take a great initiative. But, this time of year, YES!!
OK, so the 2 things I recommend doing is only because we do it, and for our family are: making and baking Christmas cookies and letting the kids make a gingerbread house.
Christmas cookies can be as simple as buying premade ones if you aren’t going to enjoy the making process. My grandmother made the cookie press cookies and they were always OH SO GOOD! So, I grew up with those cookies and now, my daughters look forward to it every year, getting the cookie press out and their great grandmother’s recipe. There is something so special and fun about using the cookie press and each one turning out differently than before. It takes some time and forces me to slow down and enjoy the moment. That, coupled with the giggling of my daughters is probably my favorite part. I love with the cookie press that we end up with plump Christmas trees, and tall gangly ones all on the same cookie sheet. That’s how the world is right? We are all different and all in this together so let’s get together and come alongside each other…like the cookies do!
The Gingerbread house? Self-explanatory …it’s a gingerbread house..they are kids…its gonna make a good old fashioned mess, what’s not to love? My only advice on this is to roll out a few long strips (or heck just cover the countertop with it) of parchment paper and take pics along the way. You will be glad you did.
5. START AN ACTIVITY STYLE TRADITION!
There are so many “things” we can buy throughout the year for our loved ones, or on their birthdays, but some special activities or notions only come around Christmas time and some truly aren’t to be missed. However, so as not to overwhelm yourself (even the good things can get overwhelming), try starting with just one for your family for this year, or if your hearts desire is more, than go for it, as long as it doesn’t cause you inner turmoil.
Some things we have added to our family’s holiday traditions through the years that we all really enjoy and look forward to are:
The lighting of the trees (in whatever downtown area or small town area you can find),
Going to The Nutcracker (this is one of our family favorites!),
Having/hosting a Bethelem dinner,
Driving around looking at Christmas lights (you can actually find so many near where you live by researching your town online) while the kids are in their pajamas and have hot chocolate or wassail in their cups,
Attending a Christmas Eve Service
Go to a local Christmas Tree Farm and pick your Christmas tree
Ice Skating
Christmas 5k or fun run….and so much more!
6. GET EVERYONE CHRISTMAS JAMMIES!
OK, while this one may sound like a silly one, it’s one that is sure to be remembered.
First off let’s dispell the financial myth. Even if all you do is go to Michaels and get their $3 red or green shirts and find some clearance leggings, it’s all about getting in the Christmas spirit..
Humor really is one of God’s many blessings I believe. If you can put on your fun and silly Christmas jammies, it conjures up smiles and giggles and joyful wonder all around! What could possibly be wrong with that? You can shop around and find matching family jammies, or you can make your own or just design a t-shirt or buy matching t-shirts.
It is pure family fun whether you are single, married, or any other station in life…get in the Christmas spirit with your Christmas jammies! And, do a little dance while you are in those jammies to up the revelry even more!
7. CUDDLE UP WITH CHRISTMAS MOVIES!
Now that you are in your Christmas jammies, snuggle up with whatever your favorite Christmas movies are and maybe have some wassail on the stove or cookies in the kitchen.
Christmas movies range the gamut from goofy silly traditions like Christmas Vacation to beautiful tear-jerkers like It’s a Wonderful Life.
Also, let’s not forget all the great Hallmark Christmas movies as well as silly family favorites like Rudolph. I do have to suggest one if you have never had the privilege of seeing the opera in person, do yourself a favor and try to see Gian-Carlo Menotti’s “Amahl and the Night Visitors”. For myself as a child, experiencing this opera was life-changing and I can’t rave enough about this short opera except to say it’s a poignant reminder of the true beauty of the Christmas season.
*BONUS* Have Christmas Music playing in the background of whatever you are doing as it is an absolute essential so much so I am appalled I had to edit this article to add it!! I start playing my Christmas music early in November to get my heart primed and excited for the season!
Comment below with some of your favorite Christmas traditions and how you celebrate the season! We wish you and yours all the best and comfort and peace that this season can bring. May your heart and smile be sprinkled with Christmas joy.
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