Tuesday, December 7, 2010

Tis The Season to Be Overwhelmed!

I LOVE Christmas! I love everything about it, the traditions, the smells, the lights, the prayers, family, I could go on and on. But every year I become so overwhelmed with all that needs to be done that I sometimes lose the joy Christmas is supposed to bring.

I do the same Christmas every year. I do all the shopping, the cooking, (if any) and the schedule. I make sure all 5 kids and I look presentable for at least a couple hours on Christmas Eve and Christmas day. I have thought many times I should give some Christmas jobs to my husband, but the type of person that I am will not let me do that. I need Christmas to be done the same every year, the way I do it. So I can't blame my husband. (darn it!)

This weekend coming up is the last weekend of peace until I become a Christmas mad women. I was dreading it. I have been filled with anxiety about how perfect everything has to be. A friend posted a blog about the exact things I was feeling. The blog is called Just Another Day of Catholic Pondering and the post so perfectly titled, Ready for it to be over? Six tips to lower the expectations for Christmas.

A great read if you are like me and feel you need to make Christmas perfect to the point of exhaustion!

I will still shop and do all the things I do for Christmas, but I will make a point to check the joy in my heart every once in a while. If it seems low, I'm going to stop the madness and snuggle up with one of my children, help my 6 year old read the story of the birth of Christ, crank up the song "Go Tell it on the Mountain" and sing at the top of my lungs. I'm going to find that joy again, because for me, that's Christmas.

And I think I will give my husband a job, he can do all the wrapping, as long as he uses the right paper. ;)

The friend I mentioned above has her own blog, From the Field of Blue Children. Cathy has written a post called, 'tis a gift it is a beautiful description of what the Joy of Christmas means.

I hope everyone has a wonderful Christmas that is bursting with joy!


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